3   1 


01077  60:  /-}  C 


.  MIS' 


ENGLAND 


AND 


AMERICA. 


COMPARISON 

OF  THE  SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  STATE    OF 
BOTH  NATIONS. 


NEW-YORK: 
PUBLISHED   BY   HARPER   &    BROTHERS, 

NO.  82    CLIFF-STREET. 

18  34. 


PREFACE. 


The  following  pages  are  intended  for  publication  in 
America  as  well  as  in  England.  They  have  been  written 
with  two  objects  in  particular :  first,  to  lay  before  Ameri- 
cans a  sketch  of  the  political  condition  of  England,  and 
before  the  English  an  explanation  of  some  peculiarities  in 
the  social  state  of  America ;  secondly,  to  point  out  the 
means  of  removing  those  causes  which  are  productive  of 
great  evils  to  both  countries. 

For  the  satisfactory  performance  of  such  a  work,  powers 
are  required  which  the  author  does  not  possess  ;  command 
of  language,  a  style  calculated  to  engage  the  reader,  and  a 
name  which  should  give  to  every  statement  or  suggestion 
the  weight  of  authority.  But  on  the  other  hand,  he  has 
had  peculiar  motives  for  examining  the  condition  of  Amer- 
ica, and  he  is  so  far  partly  qualified  to  treat  upon  that  sub- 
ject ;  he  believes  also  that  he  is  enabled  to  make  Americans 
comprehend  the  state  of  England,  which  hitherto  has  been 
described  to  them  only  by  Englishmen,  writing,  not  for 
America,  but  for  England.  The  English  and  Americans 
know  very  little  of  each  other's  affairs.  Now,  the  present 
writer  has  looked  at  America  with  English  eyes,  and  at 
England  with  American  eyes.  It  was  a  consciousness  of 
this  advantage,  that  prompted  him  to  undertake  the  task  of 
describing  to  each  nation  the  chief  social  peculiarities  of  the 
other. 

Another  advantage  which  the  writer  fancies  that  he  pos- 
sesses over  many  Englishmen  and  Americans  who  might 


SJ  PREFACE. 

have  written  on  these  subjects,  is  the  want  of  any  patriotic 
prejudice  in  favour  of  either  country — of  any  motive  for 
concealing  or  perverting  the  truth.  His  opinions,  he  be- 
jieves,  have  been  formed,  and  are  stated,  without  affection 
or  fear.  Plain-speaking  must  nearly  always  be  disagree- 
able to  somebody  ;  and  in  this  case  it  will  offend  many,  be- 
cause large  classes,  both  in  England  and  America,  are 
mentioned  without  any  regard  for  their  selfish  interests, 
their  mean  passions,  or  even  their  honest  prejudices. 

The  following  Notes  are  not  to  be  considered  as  so  many 
discussions  on  distinct  subjects  ;  but  each  of  them  is  more 
or  less  connected  with  all  the  others.  In  fact,  they  all  re- 
late to  the  social  state  and  political  economy  of  England 
and  America. 

What,  it  may  be  asked,  has  the  political  economy  of  Eng- 
land to  do  with  that  of  America,  or  that  of  America  with 
that  of  England  ?  What  relation  can  there  be  between  the 
political  prospects  of  the  English,  and  the  origin,  progress, 
and  prospects  of  slavery  in  America?  To  such  questions 
these  Notes  supply  an  answer.  Comparison  is  the  easiest 
way  to  truth.  In  many  cases,  the  Americans  and  the  Eng- 
lish may  have  an  equal  interest  in  the  same  subject,  though 
they  may  have  very  different  objects  in  view.  Of  this  com- 
mon interest  with  different  objects,  the  subject  of  coloniza- 
tion is  a  good  example.  Admitting  that  the  three  ele- 
ments of  production  are  land,  capital,  and  labour  ;  suppo- 
sing that  the  chief  social  evils  of  England  arc  owing  to  a 
deficiency  of  land  in  proportion  to  capital  and  labour,  and 
those  of  America  to  an  excess  of  land  in  proportion  to 
capital  and  labour  (whatever  great  advantages  she  may 
owe  to  a  sufficiency  of  land),  in  that  case,  the  Ameri- 
cans and  the  English  have  a  common  interest  in  under- 
standing the  art  of  colonization,  though  the  object  of  the 
Americans  should  be  to  have  less,  and  that  of  the  Eng- 
lish to  have  more,  of  one  of  the  elements  of  wealth.    So, 


PREFACE.  3 

also,  if  it  be  for  the  interest  of  the  English  to  buy  cheap 
corn  of  the  Americans,  and  of  the  Americans  to  buy  cheap 
manufactured  goods  of  the  English,  the  two  nations  have  a 
common  interest  in  the  repeal  of  the  English  corn-laws  and 
of  the  American  tariff.  In  every  subject  treated  of  in 
these  Notes,  the  Americans  and  the  English  have  more  or 
less  a  common  interest. 

The  statements  and  arguments  contained  in  these  Notes 
might  have  been  supported  by  reference  to  numerous  au- 
thorities ;  but,  though  the  writer  wished,  for  his  own  sake, 
to  adopt  that  course,  still  he  was  afraid  that,  by  doing  so., 
he  might  render  his  work  too  formal.  To  one  book,  how- 
ever, he  has  referred  pretty  often ;  Mr.  Stuart's  Three 
Years  in  North  America;  a  production  which  may  be 
termed  a  storehouse  of  facts  concerning  the  United  States. 
If  Mr.  Stuart  had  seen  fit  to  develop  the  causes  of  the 
facts  which  he  has  collected,  to  give  reasons  for  the  chief 
social  peculiarities  of  America,  these  Notes,  or  at  least  such 
of  them  as  treat  directly  of  the  United  States,  would  not 
have  been  published. 


CONTENTS. 


NOTE  I. 

THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND. 

First  signs  of  wealth  observed  by  a  foreigner — Proofs  of  wealth  in  L.ondon 
— In  the  country — Superior  enjoyments  of  the  English — Large  propor- 
tion of  the  English  who  enjoy  much  wealth — Immense  capital  invested 
— Abundance  of  capital  ready  to  be  invested — Overflow  of  capital — Causes 
of  the  great  wealth  of  England — Combination  of  power — Division  of 
capital  and  labour  a  cause  of  poverty — Effects  of  combination  of  product- 
ive power  on  the  agriculture,  manufactures,  and  commerce  of  England — 
Some  conclusions  from  the  principle,  that  production  depends  on  the 
degree  in  which  men  help  each  other — Constant  progress  of  wealth  and 
civilization  in  England  Page  17 

NOTE  II. 

MISERY    OF    THE    BULK    OF    THE    PEOPLE. 

Who  are  the  bulk  of  the  people — Misery  of  the  bulk  of  the  people  a  favour- 
ite topic  in  England — Proofs  of  misery — What  is  a  pauper — Factory  chil- 
dren— Irish  wages — Increase  of  gin-shops — Cheapness  of  English  chil- 
dren— Trade  in  the  Murder  of  parish  apprentices — Other  trades  in 
pauper  children — Climbing  boys — Prostitutes — Cheapness  of  women — 
Degradation  of  the  common  people — The  common  people  are  too  cheap 
to  be  happy 39 

NOTE  III. 

UNEASINESS    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS. 

Who  compose  the  aristocracy — Particular  distresses  of  the  middle  class 

Uneasiness  of  farmers — Of  manufacturers — Of  dealers — Low  profits 

Uneasiness  of  professional  men — Of  several  classes  possessing  the  com- 
mon run  of  knowledge,  or  superior  knowledge — Of  persons  having  fixed 
incomes  and  families — Primary  cause  of  prostitution — Domestic  life 
among  the  English  middle  class  60 

NOTE  IV. 

COINCIDENCE    OF    OVERFLOWING  NATIONAL    WEALTH,   WITH   THE    UNEASI- 
NESS   AND    MISERY    OF    INDIVIDUALS. 

Theories  of  the  English  economists — A  dream  of  Robinson  Crusoe's  island 

The  field  of  production  an  element  of  wealth — Argument  with  the  econo- 
mists— Argument  with  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin — America  and  England, 
as  to  the  field  of  production — Cases  of  various  proportions  amono-  the  ele- 
ments of  production — Peculiar  case  of  England — As  wealth  increases 
many  individuals  are  less  rich — Moral  and  strictly  political  effects  of  the 
various  proportions  which  the  field  of  production  bears  to  capital  and 
labour — Peculiar  effects  in  the  peculiar  case  of  England  74 


b  CONTENTS. 

NOTE  V. 

POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

Retrospect — The  constitution  of  1688 — Its  merits  and  defects — Maintained 
by  corruption — Populace  subservient  to  the  ruling  class — Ellects  of 
knowledge — On  the  middle  class — On  the  poor — History  of  the  late 
change  in  the  constitution — New  constitution  obtained  by  the  physical 
force — New  constitution  described — Not  likely  to  last — Dangers  in  the 
prospect  of  change — Democracy  or  worse,  apparently  inevitable — Dangers 
of  democracy — Possible  means  of  avoiding  the  probable  evils  of  change — 
Christian  legislation — Means  of  improving  the  physical  condition  of  the 
bulk  of  the  people,  and  of  removing  the  uneasiness  of  the  middle  class     90 

NOTE  VI. 

FRKE    TRADE    IN    CORN,    AS    A    MEANS    OF   ENLARGING   THE    FIELD    OF     EM- 
PLOYMENT   FOR    ENGLISH    CAPITAL    AND    LABOUR. 

Subject  of  this  note  stated — Wide  difference  between  facts  in  America  and 
the  English  theory  of  rent — American  theory  of  rent — Various  kinds  and 
degrees  of  competition  for  the  use  of  land — Facts — Effects  of  a  free  corn- 
trade  on  the  several  kinds  of  competition  for  the  use  of  land — With  cheap 
bread  the  rental  of  England  must  be  greater — Gradual  repeal  of  the  corn- 
laws  hurtful  for  a  time  to  land-owners  and  farmers,  and  not  useful  to  any 
class  of  labourers — Sudden  repeal  of  the  corn-laws  beneficial  to  all 
classes    131 

NOTE  VII. 

CLOSE  RELATION  BETWEEN  THE  FOREIGN  CORN-TRADK  OF  ENGLAND  AND 
THE  FOREIGN  TRADE  OF  CHINA. 

Object  of  the  English  in  a  free  corn-trade — Very  cheap  corn  not  raised  ex- 
cept by  slaves — Why  so — Direct  trade  between  English  manufacturers 
and  the  producers  of  cheap  corn  must  be  very  limited — Indirect  trade  for 
procuring  cheap  corn,  by  means  of  direct  trade  with  the  Chinese  em- 


pire 


150 


NOTE  VIII. 

MEANS  OF  EXTENDING  FREE  TRADE  TO  THE  WHOLE  COAST  OF  CHINA. 

Interest  of  the  Americans  in  this  question — Chinese  restrictions  on  trade — 
The  Chinese  people  more  inclined  to  commerce  than  the  English  or 
Americans — Chinese  government  dislikes  foreign  trade  on  political 
grounds — Restrictions  lead  to  a  free  trade  -  Description  "I  the  free  trade 
which  actually  takes  place  in  China—  Obstacles  i"  the  extension  of  ibis 

free  trade — Several   modes  of  removing   those   obstacles-    Hue   mode  will 

endanger  the  trade  between    America  and  China     Safest,  cheapest,  and 
best  mode,  commercial  stations  near  the  coast  of  China     To  be  tunned, 

if  Dot  by  Englislunen,  then  by  Americans  169 

NOTE  l\. 

BOMS   SOCIAL    I'K<  i  i.iAiiii  ii       OF  TBI      IMEBtOANS. 

Peculiar  slate  of  religion      C        •     of  superstition  will I   bigotry  Or  f'anali- 

dam—Inquisitivenest— Rudeness  of  the  backwoodsmen     Bigotrj  in  pa- 
triotism— Neglect  of  learning   l'JO 


CONTENTS.  7 

NOTE  X. 

ORIGIN,    PROGRESS,    AND    PROSPECTS    OF    SLAVERY    IN    AMERICA. 

Declamation  against  slavery — History  of  the  origin  and  progress  of  slavery 
in  America — Cause  of  slavery — Prospects  of  slavery  in  the  British  West 
Indies — In  the  United  States — Possible  means  of  abolishing  slavery  in 
the  United  States  without  a  servile  war  201 

NOTE  XI. 

APOLOGY    FOR    THE   AMERICAN    TARIFF. 

Opinions  of  Englishmen  respecting  the  tariff — Moral  advantages  of  the 
tariff — Economical  advantages  of  the  tariff — Difference  of  feeling  be- 
tween the  Southern  and  Northern  States  respecting  the  tariff — The 
tariff  good,  upon  the  whole,  for  the  people  of  America,  and  therefore  a 
work  becoming  democratic  government — When  the  tariff  may  be  repealed 
with  great  advantage  to  America   224 

NOTE  XII. 

THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

Introduction — Nature  and  limits  of  the  subject — The  ends  of  colonization  as 
respects  the  mother  country — The  extension  of  markets — Relief  from 
excessive  numbers — Enlargement  of  the  field  for  employing  capital — 
Ends  of  colonization  as  respects  the  colony — The  means  of  colonization 
— The  disposal  of  waste  land — The  removal  of  people — Co-operation  of 
the  mother  country — The  foundation  of  colonies — The  government  of 
colonies    231 


APPENDIX. 

No.  I. 

Proofs  of  the  industry,  skill,  and  commercial  disposition  of  the  Chinese 
people 383 

No.  II. 

Proofs  of  the  rapidity  with  which  waste  land  rises  in  value,  wherever  people 
congregate,  in  new  colonies 346 

No.  III. 

Part  of  a  correspondence  between  the  English  government  and  a  body  of  in- 
dividuals desirous  to  found  a  colony  357 


NOTE  I. 

THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND. 

First  signs  of  wealth  observed  by  a  foreigner — Proofs  of  wealth  in  London 
— In  the  country — Superior  enjoyments  of  the  English — Large  propor- 
tion of  the  English  who  enjoy  much  wealth — Immense  capital  invested 
— Abundance  of  capital  ready  to  be  invested — Overflow  of  capital — Causes 
of  the  great  wealth  of  England — Combination  of  power — Division  of 
capital  and  labour  a  cause  of  poverty — Effects  of  combination  of  product- 
ive power  on  the  agriculture,  manufactures,  and  commerce  of  England — 
Some  conclusions  from  the  principle,  that  production  depends  on  the 
degree  in  which  men  help  each  other — Constant  progress  of  wealth  and 
civilization  in  England. 

An  American  citizen  visits  the  continent  of  Europe,  and 
on  his  way  home  passes  some  time  in  England.  Here  he 
finds  the  roads  in  every  direction  far  better  than  any  he 
has  seen  before,  and  he  sees  more  of  them  on  a  given  space 
than  in  France  or  America.  The  cross-roads  are  kept  in 
far  better  order  than  those  of  any  other  country.  By  the 
side  of  nearly  all  the  great  roads,  he  sees,  for  the  first  time, 
a  well  kept  foot-path.  In  many  places,  the  foot-paths  across 
fields  are  as  dry,  and  smooth,  and  trim  as  walks  in  plea- 
sure-gardens. All  the  carriages  on  the  road  are  stronger 
and  lighter,  more  useful  and  sightly,  than  those  to  which 
he  is  accustomed  ;  and  the  vast  number  of  those  carriages 
strikes  him  with  astonishment.  The  strength  and  beauty 
of  the  horses,  the  quality  and  neatness  of  their  harness,  and 
the  very  whips  with  which  they  are  driven,  excite  his 
wonder.  The  uncommon  speed  with  which  he  travels 
raises  his  spirits  and  inclines  him  to  look  favourably  at 
every  thing.  He  exclaims,  what  magnificent  crops — 
what  beautiful  meadows — what  fine  cattle  and  sheep — what 
skill  and  care  in  the  mixture  of  wood,  arable  and  grass 
lands — what  noble  trees — what  regularity  and  neatness  in 
the  fences  !  even  the  ditches  and  gate-posts  are  admirable  ! 
The  mansions  are  palaces,  the  farm-houses  mansions,  the 
merest  village  of  cottages  has  an  air  of  peculiar  comfort ; 
while  the  number  of  those  mansions,  farm-houses,  and  vil- 
lages gives  to  the  country  the  appearance  of  a  scattered 
town.  But  then  the  towns  :  many  of  them  are  so  extensive, 
the  houses  in  them  are  so  well  built,  the  shops  have  such 

3 


18  THE    WEALTH    OP   ENGLAND. 

a  display  of  rich  goods,  the  streets  are  so  well  paved,  and 
contain  so  large  a  proportion  of  good  houses  ;  these  towns 
are  so  full  of  well-dressed  people,  that  each  of  them  might 
be  taken  for  a  city.     Even  the  smallest  towns  appear  like 
sections  of  a  wealthy  capital  ;  and  the  number  of  towns, 
large  and  small,  is  so  great  that,  together  with  the  great 
number  of  good  houses  by  the  road  side  out  of  town,  one 
seems  to  be  travelling  all  day  through  one  street.     This, 
the  foreigner  imagines,  must  be  the  most  populous  road  in 
England  ;  there  must  be  something  peculiar  in  this  part  of 
the  country  which  attracts  rich  people.      By  no  means. 
He  is  told   that,  so  long  as  fourteen  years  ago,  the  length 
of  the  paved  streets  and  turnpike-roads  of  England  and 
Wales  was  about  twenty  thousand  miles  ;    and  he  soon 
learns  that  nearly  all  the  great  roads  show  marks  of  wealth 
like  those  which  he  has  so  much  admired.     He  therefore 
supposes  that  the  wealth  of  the  country  must  bear  a  very 
large  proportion  to  that  of  the  metropolis  ;  but  on  this  point 
he  is  undeceived  on  reaching  London.     Here  the  crowd  is 
so  great,  the  objects  which  attract  his  attention  are  so  many 
and  so  different,  that,  for  a  while,  he  is  bewildered  and 
incapable  of  arranging  his  thoughts  so  as  to  draw  conclu- 
sions from  what  he  sees.     At  length  he  begins  to  observe 
methodically,  and  to  compare  his  observations  with  those 
which  he  has  made  in  other  great  cities.     Until  now  he 
has  conceived  New-York  or  Paris  to  be  the  place  in  which 
the  greatest  amount  of  wealth  was  enjoyed   by  a  given 
number  of  people;  but  he  is  now  convinced  that  the  in- 
habitants of  London  obtain  a  greater  quantity  of  things 
necessary,  useful,  or  agreeable  to  man,  than  the  inhabitants 
of  any  other  city  in  the  world.     The  quantity  of  flour  and 
meat  consumed,  in  proportion  to  people,  he  finds  not  much 
greater  in  London   than  in  Paris,  and  even  less  than  in 
New- York,  where  the  working  classes  live  better  than  in 
London  ;  so  also  the  proportion  of  looking-glasses  he  knows 
to   be  greater  in  Paris,  and  the  proportion  of  rum  drank 
to  be  greater  in  New- York  than  in  London;  but  he  cannot 
doubl  th  '."li  the  whole,  more  good  things  are  enjoyed  in 
London,  by  a  given  number  of  people,  than  any  where  else 
out  of  England.     It  is  not  in  his  power,  indeed,  to  compare 
the  quantities  or  rallies  of  all  necessary,  useful,  or  agreeable 
things  enjoyed  in  London,  with  the  quantities  or  values  of 
inch  things  used  in  other  gn  at  cities ;  but  he  is  convinced 
of  the  superior  wealth  of  London  bj  the  same  mode  of 
observation    which  has  satisfied    him  that   the  people  of 


THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND.  19 

New- York  drink  more  rum,  and  the  people  of  Paris  own 
more  looking-glasses  than  the  people  of  London.  In  Lon- 
don one  meets  with  every  thing  the  immediate  produce  of 
agriculture,  such  as  meat,  bread,  sugar  and  tea,  of  the  very 
finest  quality.  Of  manufactured  objects  used  in  London, 
scarce  one  can  be  mentioned  which  is  not  brought  to 
greater  perfection  than  similar  objects  used  in  other 
capital  cities,  while  the  variety  of  such  objects  is  yet 
more  striking.  The  fittings  and  furniture  of  a  third- 
rate  house  in  London  are  of  a  better  quality  than 
those  of  a  palace  in  France  or  Germany ;  the  doors  and 
windows  answer  their  purpose  better;  the  chairs  are 
stronger,  lighter,  and  more  convenient  to  sit  upon ;  the 
tables,  if  not  more  useful,  are  far  more  beautiful ;  the  glass 
is  more  transparent,  the  knives  cut  better,  the  fastenings  of 
all  sorts,  the  corkscrew  and  the  toasting-fork,  are  better 
suited  to  their  purpose,  and  composed  of  superior  materials. 
In  every  London  house,  excepting  those  of  the  poorest 
order,  one  finds  many  useful  and  agreeable  objects  which 
are  either  scarce  or  unknown  in  Paris,  New- York,  and 
Vienna.  The  inhabitants  of  London  pay,  it  has  been  reck- 
oned, about  50,000/.  a  year, — being  the  fourth  of  200,000/. 
which  the  nation  pays, — for  what  1  for  blacking  advei  tise- 
ments — that  is,  for  the  faciiity  of  choosing  between  differ- 
ent kinds  of  blacking.  The  number  of  kinds  of  horses 
used  in  London,  though  very  striking  to  a  foreigner,  is  less 
remarkable  than  the  forethought,  pains,  and  skill  required 
for  making  each  variety — the  Lincolnshire  dray  horse,  for 
example,  the  Cleveland  coach  horse,  the  high-bred  nag,  the 
cob,  and  the  trotting  hackney — so  obviously  distinct  from 
all  the  others.  The  variety  of  carriages,  whether  for  busi- 
ness or  pleasure,  and  the  fitness  of  each  sort  for  its  peculiar 
purpose,  whether  that  purpose  be  determined  by  the  wea- 
ther, by  the  fortune  of  him  who  owns  the  carriage,  or  the 
business  of  him  who  uses  it, — are  equally  deserving  of  ad- 
miration. At  night,  when  other  great  cities  are  in  darkness, 
all  London  is  brilliantly  illuminated  ;  nay,  the  beautiful  gas 
lights  extend  for  some  miles  into  the  country,  in  all  direc- 
tions. The  pavements  of  London — but  the  list  of  exam- 
ples might  be  continued  through  a  volume.  Still,  the 
foreigner  is  less  surprised  at  the  quantity,  variety,  and  per- 
fection of  useful  and  agreeable  objects  used  in  London, 
than  at  the  great  proportion  of  the  people  who  enjoy  in 
abundance  the  most  perfect  of  those  objects.  That  the 
houses  of  the  high  aristocracy  should  be  large,  fine,  and 


20  THE    WEALTH    OF   ENGLAND. 

richly  furnished,  is  nothing  strange ;  but  the  houses  in  many 
quarters  which  the  aristocracy  despise,  are  as  large,  fine, 
and  well  furnished  as  those  of  the  most  aristocratic  quar- 
ters. The  best  houses,  for  instance,  in  Bloomsbury,  Fins- 
bury,  and  Lambeth,  and  in  such  villages  or  suburbs  as  High- 
gate,  Hornsey,  Tottenham,  Hackney,  Peckham,  and  Clap- 
ham,  though  a  lord  would  disdain  to  live  in  one  of  them,  are 
as  large,  fine,  and  well  furnished,  as  those  of  Mayfair,  or  of 
such  aristocratic  villages  as  Roehampton  and  Wimbledon. 
The  shops,  too,  in  many  of  those  "  low"  quarters,  though 
stocked  for  the  supply  of  persons  engaged  in  some  in- 
dustrious pursuit,  are  as  full,  and  as  rich,  as  those  of 
Bond-street  or  Regent-street.  The  number  of  carriages, 
also,  kept  for  pleasure  in  those  despised  quarters  greatly  ex- 
ceeds the  number  of  such  carriages  kept  by  the  high  aris- 
tocracy in  and  about  London.  In  the  quantity  and  quality 
of  good  things  which  he  uses,  in  his  own  dress,  and  that  of 
his  family,  in  his  table,  furniture  and  books,  or  in  whatever 
mode  of  expense  he  may  prefer,  a  prosperous  lawyer  or 
merchant  is  not  far  behind  the  richest  duke  ;  and  the  num- 
ber of  rich  people  in  London  who  pursue  an  industrious 
career  is  very  much  greater  than  the  number  of  rich  lords. 
But  it  would  be  improper  to  measure  the  wealth  of  a  so- 
ciety by  the  enjoyments  of  its  richest  members  alone. 
Dividing  the  inhabitants  of  London  and  Paris  into  the  same 
number  of  ranks  with  respect  to  the  consumption  of  wealth, 
every  London  rank  enjoys  more  good  things  than  its  cor- 
responding Parisian  rank.  A  second-rate  merchant  in  Lon- 
don spends  at  least  twice  as  much  a  sa  second-rate  Pa- 
risian merchant ;  a  third-rate  London  advocate  spends,  per- 
haps, three  times  as  much  as  a  first-rate  Parisian  advocate  ; 
a  fourth-rate  London  attorney  spends  six  times  as  much  as 
a  second-rate  Parisian  notary  ;  a  physician  in  London,  a 
surgeon,  a  dentist,  a  tradesman  of  whatever  description,  a 
servant  from  the  butler  to  the  scullion,  a  mechanic  in  what- 
ever line,  a  porter,  or  a  common  labourer,  spends  more,  and 
in  most  casesa  greal  deal  more,  than  one  or  a  correspond- 
ing rank  in  the  Parisian  scale.  But  this  is  not  all.  In  Lon- 
don there  are  more  first-rate  merchants,  law  yers,  and  trades- 
men in  proportion  to  Becond-rate  ones,  more  second-rale 
on<:->  in  proportion  to  third-rate  ones,  and  so  on  all  down  the 

scale.      In    a    word,    turn     which    way    \<>n    will,    London 

abounds  with  proofs  of  its  enormous  wealth. 

Tims  th^  foreigner  is  apt  to  fall  into  another  error;  to 
imagine  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  wealth  of  Eng- 


THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND.  21 

land  is  collected  in  London.  He  is  undeceived  again  by 
visiting  some  great  provincial  towns  of  different  descrip- 
tions, such  as  Bath,  Liverpool,  and  Leeds.  Each  of  these 
resembles  a  large  section  of  the  metropolis  ;  Bath  being 
like  Marylebone,  Leeds  like  manufacturing  South vvark,  and 
Liverpool  like  the  commercial  Tower  Hamlets.  In  point 
of  size  and  general  character  Liverpool  bears  some  resem- 
blance to  Bordeaux  or  New-York,  and  Leeds  to  Lyons ; 
but  in  America  there  is  no  town  like  Leeds,  nor,  either  in 
America  or  France,  any  town  like  Bath.  England  abounds 
with  such  towns  as  Bath — mere  pleasure  towns,  they  may 
be  called — such  as  Leamington,  Hastings,  Margate,  Chel- 
tenham, and  Brighton  ;  with  more  of  the  same  kind,  though 
of  smaller  extent,  such  as  Tunbridge  Wells,  Worthing,  Har- 
rowgate,  Aberystwith,  Southend,  Lowestoft,  and  Sidmouth. 
Of  towns  like  Leeds,  while  in  the  United  States  there  is  not 
one,  and  in  France  but  few,  there  is  in  England  a  number 
without  end,  such  as  Macclesfield,  Sheffield,  Nottingham, 
Coventry,  Birmingham,  and  Manchester.  Of  towns  like 
Liverpool,  though  there  be  several  in  the  United  States, 
there  are  many  more  in  the  United  Kingdom,  while  neither 
in  the  United  States  nor  in  France  are  there  any  towns  of 
a  mixed  character,  like  Norwich  and  Glasgow.  Again, 
neither  in  France  nor  in  the  United  States  are  there  any 
great  provincial  capitals  like  Edinburgh  and  Dublin.  But 
after  all,  that  for  which,  in  respect  to  towns,  England  is 
most  distinguished, — even  more  so  than  for  the  number  and 
size  of  her  pleasure  towns, — is  the  vast  number  and  great 
size  of  her  smaller  provincial  capitals,  which  are  neither 
seaports  nor  the  seats  of  manufactures  ;  such  as  York, 
Canterbury,  Gloucester,  Exeter,  Shrewsbury,  Reading, 
Colchester,  and  Bury  St.  Edmund's.  And  now, further,  let 
the  wealth  of  any  English  town  whatsoever,  be  compared 
with  that  of  a  town  of  the  same  character  in  any  other 
country.  With  a  single,  and  no  doubt  very  important  ex- 
ception, England  has  greatly  the  advantage.  In  the  United 
States  every  labourer,  not  being  a  slave,  obtains  more  and 
better  food,  more  and  better  clothes,  as  well  as  a  better 
lodging,  than  a  labourer  of  equal  skill  in  England.  With- 
out any  further  exception,  the  inhabitants  of  English  pro- 
vincial towns  enjoy  a  greater  quantity  and  variety  of  good 
things,  approach  nearer  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  capital  in 
respect  to  the  consumption  of  wealth,  than  people  of  a 
similar  rank  in  the  provincial  towns  of  other  countries.  A 
merchant  of  Liverpool  or  Bristol,  a  manufacturer  of  Bir- 


22  THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND. 

mingham  or  Leeds,  be  he  first,  second,  or  third-rate,  in- 
dulges in  expenses  for  his  house,  his  table,  the  education 
of  his  children  and  the  amusement  of  his  family,  which, 
to  think  of  only,  would  frighten  a  Bordeaux  merchant, 
or  Lyons  manufacturer  of  the  same  rank.  What  a  French 
provincial  doctor  spends  in  a  year,  would  not  keep  an 
English  provincial  doctor  in  equal  practice  for  three 
months.  Country  attorneys  in  England  get  and  spend,  on  the 
average,  ten  times  as  much  ps  French  country  attorneys. 
Common  tradesmen  in  all  English  country  towns,  bakers, 
butchers,  cheesemongers,  and  linen-drapers,  as  well  as  me- 
chanics, such  as  carpenters,  builders,  and  glaziers,  live 
much  better  than  a  similar  class  of  people  in  Paris ;  they 
have  more  rooms  to  live  in ;  their  rooms  are  better  fur- 
nished ;  they,  their  wives,  and  children  are  better  dressed  ; 
they  find  it  more  easy  to  obtain  comforts  and  indulge  in 
luxuries.  Surely  there  are  fifty  country  towns  in  England 
which  contain  a  good  inn,  that  is  a  comfortable  innkeeper, 
for  one  French  country  town  that  contains  a  passable  inn, 
held  by  a  man  who  does  not  live  so  expensively  as  the 
keepers  of  most  English  alehouses.  That  English  town  is 
reckoned  poor  in  which  there  are  not.  some  shops  that  would 
be  considered  good  in  the  best  quarter  of  London  ;  and 
there  are  hundreds  of  towns  in  England,  in  which  you  can 
purchase  almost  every  thing  that  is  commonly  for  sale  in 
London.  The  number  of  booksellers'  shops  in  the  provincial 
towns  of  England,  and  the  stocks  which  they  contain,  pre- 
sent a  very  striking  contrast  with  the  number  and  stocks  of 
French  booksellers'  shops  out  of  Paris.  In  the  number  and 
quality  of  horses  and  carriages  kept  for  pleasure,  English 
country  towns  surpass,  very  far  indeed,  French  country 
towns  of  equal  magnitude.  Every  town  in  England,  that  at 
all  bears  the  character  of  the  capital  oi  a  district,  possesses 
a  circulating  library,  such  as  would  be  called  good  in  Paris 
or  New- York;  while  most  of  such  towns,  as  well  as  many 
small  towns,  and  indeed  rural  parts,  miles  away  from  any 
town,  have  the  inestimable  advantage  of  a  book  club.  No 
English  town  containing  10,000  inhabitants  is  without  foot 
pavements  or  gas  lights  ;  while  many  towns,  with  less  than 
5,000  inhabitants,  are  as  well  paved  and  well  lighted  as  the 
finest  quarter  of  London.  In  their  literary  and  scientific 
institutions,  such  towns  as  Liverpool,  Leeds,  and  Birming- 
ham, appear  to  surpass  the  metropolis,  allowing  for  the  dif- 
ference of  numbers  ;  and  in  this  respect  they  obviously 
excel,  beyond  comparison,  French  or  American  towns  ot 


THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND.  23 

like  magnitude.  Another  proof  of  the  general  diffusion  of 
wealth  in  England,  is  the  large  proportion  of  the  sums  in- 
vested by  savings-banks,  which  is  subscribed  out  of  Lon- 
don ;  the  whole  fund,  amounting  to  about  14,000,000/.,  and 
subscribed  by  persons  little  above  the  condition  of  labour- 
ers, being  a  proof  of  the  wealth  of  England.  But  finally, 
the  most  striking  proof  of  the  wealth  of  the  English,  all 
over  England,  is  the  facility  with  which,  in  any  part  of  Eng- 
land, funds  are  raised  for  any  undertaking  that  offers  the 
least  chance  of  profit.  It  is  to  this  point,  especially,  that  I 
would  draw  the  attention  of  Americans.*  Though  thou- 
sands of  millions  have  been  spent  in  rendering  England  the 
most  habitable  country  in  the  world,  in  making  bad  land 
good,  on  fences,  farm  buildings,  roads,  bridges,  canals  and 
docks,  on  the  opening  of  mines,  the  building  of  manufacto- 
ries and  warehouses,  not  to  mention  houses,  still  it  appears 
as  if  thousands  of  millions  would  be  forthcoming  for  simi- 
lar purposes,  if  there  were  but  room  for  carrying  such  pur- 
poses into  effect.  Abundance  of  capital  invested,  and 
ready  to  be  invested,  is  the  most  marked,  nay  the  peculiar, 
characteristic  of  England.  By  guessing  at  what  it  would 
take  to  put  France,  or  one  of  the  American  States,  into  the 
same  condition  as  England,  with  respect  to  the  improve- 
ment of  land,  to  farm  buildings,  roads,  bridges,  canals, 
wharves,  docks,  manufactories,  warehouses,  and  machinery, 
&c,  we  may  form  some  idea  of  the  degree  in  which  the 
fixed  capital  of  the  English  exceeds  that  of  the  French  or 
Americans  :  and  yet  the  French  or  Americans,  who  have 
invested  so  small  a  capital  in  comparison  with  that  invested 
by  the  English,  have  far  less  than  the  English  ready  for  in- 
vestment.! Money  makes  money,  says  the  proverb ; 
which,   translated  into   the  language  of  modern  science, 

*  "  The  great  public  work  in  this  part  of  the  United  States  in  which  the 
people  are  engaged,  is  the  canal  between  the  Chesapeake  and  the  Ohio 
rivers,  that  is,  between  Georgetown  and  Washington  on  the  one  hand,  and 
Pittsburgh  on  the  western  side  of  the  Alleghany  ridge  on  the  other.  This 
prodigious  work,  which  is  now  in  progress,  is  estimated  by  General  Bernard, 
at  about  twenty-two  millions  of  dollars.  The  sum  of  fifteen  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  subscribed  by  the  citizens  of  Washington,  Georgetown,  and 
Alexandria,  on  the  Potomac,  has  been  obtained  from  Dutch  capitalists,  the 
house  of  Messrs.  Crommelin,  of  Amsterdam." — Three  years  m  North  Amer- 
ica, by  James  Stuart,  Esq.  vol.  ii,  page  62. —  Third  Edition. 

t  "  The  canal  (at  Louisville),  is  two  miles  in  the  length,  cut  out  of  the 
solid  rock,  and  in  some  places  forty  feet  deep,  and  is  of  sufficient  width  to 
allow  the  largest  class  of  steamboats  to  pass.  Dry  docks  are  to  be  con- 
structed for  the  repairing  of  steamboats.  There  is  at  present  a  leant  of 
funds  ;  but  the  work  is  so  far  advanced  that  there  is  no  risk  of  its  not  being 
completed." — Stuart,  vol.  ii,  page  290. 


24  THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND. 

means  that  capital  creates  capital.  In  America,  where 
there  is  so  much  room  for  the  investment  of  capital,  because 
so  little  capital  has  been  invested,  innumerable  works,  hold- 
ing out  the  certainty  of  large  profits,  are  projected,  but  for 
want  of  capital  are  not  begun  ;  while  in  England,  where, 
by  reason  of  the  vast  masses  of  capital  already  invested, 
there  seems  but  little  room  for  the  profitable  investment  of 
more,  millions  accumulate  so  rapidly,  that  funds  are  never 
wanted  for  even  the  most  hazardous  undertakings.  How 
to  obtain  capital  is  the  question  in  America  ;*  what  to  do 
with  their  capital  is  the  puzzle  of  the  English.  In  this  diffi- 
culty the  English  build  Waterloo  bridges,  which  yield  no 
profit,  send  goods  to  be  sold  in  distant  countries  at  less  than 
prime  cost,  squander  millions  on  South  American  specula- 
tions, lay  out  immense  sums  in  the  purchase  of  foreign  se- 
curities, and  lend  money,  by  tens  of  millions  at  a  time,  to 
North  American  States,  South  American  anarchies,  and 
European  tyrants,  great  or  small.  If  the  wealth  of  a  society 
depend  on  the  proportion  which  capital  bears  to  numbers, 
then  it  is  clear  the  English  are  the  richest  people  in  the 
world. 

What  are  the  causes  of  the  enormous  wealth  of  England  ? 
This  question  has  never  been  answered  to  the  satisfaction 
of  Americans  ;  who,  descended  from  the  English,  using 
their  language,  able  to  use  their  knowledge,  paying  fewer 
taxes  than  the  English,  cultivating  a  much  more  fertile  soil, 
and  as  well  protected,  to  say  the  least,  in  the  enjoyment  of 
property,  cannot  perceive,  in  the  reasons  usually  given  for 
the  peculiar  wealth  of  England,  any  circumstance  peculiar 
to  the  English.  This  question  I  propose  to  examine,  with 
a  view  to  show,  here,  why  the  English  are  so  much  richer 
than  the  Americans;  and,  further  on,  how  the  Americans 
might  become  as  rich  as  tin;  English,  if  not  richer.  The 
question  is  of  n<>  little  importance  to  the  English  themselves, 
and  is  full  of  the  deepesl  interest  to  all  new  societies;  like 
the  American  State-,  and  the  English  eolonics  in  America 
and  Australia. 

All  wealth  being  the  produce  of  industry,  it  is  evident 
that  the  wealth  of  a  society  must  depend  on"  the  degree  in 
which  tin-  productive  powers  of  industry  are  improved  by 
thai  Bociety.  What  are  the  greatest  improvements  in  the 
productive  powers  of  industry;  improvements,  I  mean,  be- 
yond that  simple  exertion  of  power,  which  in   two  indi- 

•  The  State  of  Louisiana  has  lately  borrowed  a  great  uurn  of  the  English. 


THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND.  25 

vfduals  of  equal  strength,  working  separately  in  the  same 
way,  would  raise  equal  amounts  of  produce  ?  Adam 
Smith  has  said  that  the  greatest  improvement  in  the  pro- 
ductive powers  of  industry  is  division  of  labour ;  others 
have  dwelt  on  the  great  effects  of  machinery ;  and  some 
again  have  taken  pains  to  show,  what  is  self-evident,  that 
the  productive  powers  of  industry  are  greatly  increased  by 
the  use  of  capital.  Unquestionably  capital,  machinery, 
which  is  capital,  and  "  division  of  labour,"  tend  to  increase 
the  quantity  of  produce  in  proportion  to  the  number  0i 
hands  employed ;  but  none  of  these  improvements  are 
primary  causes,  as  some  of  them,  and  especially  "  division 
of  labour,"  have  been  considered  by  political  economists; 
each  of  them,  on  the  contrary,  though  an  immediate  cause, 
is  the  effect  of  some  antecedent  cause.  One  cannot  use 
capital  merely  by  wishing  to  use  it,  nor  can  a  single  work- 
man practise  "  division  of  labour ;"  but  the  use  of  capital 
and  "  division  of  labour"  result  from  some  anterior  improve- 
ment. What,  then,  is  the  first  improvement  in  the  product- 
ive powers  of  industry,  that  improvement  on  which  others 
depend  ? 

In  the  most  simple  operation  of  industry, — in  that,  for 
example,  which  savages  perform  when  they  hunt  for  sub- 
sistence,— two  persons  assisting  each  other  would  obtain 
more  game  in  a  given  time  than  two  persons  hunting  each 
by  himself  without  concert;  just  as*  two  greyhounds,  run- 
ning together,  will  kill  more  hares  than  four  greyhounds 
running  separately.  The  very  first  improvement,  there- 
fore, in  the  productive  powers  of  industry,  seems  to  be  not 
division,  but  combination  of  labour.  Several  individuals, 
by  combining  their  labour,  procure  more  food  than  they 
want :  behold  the  second  stage  of  social  improvement ;  the 
society  has  obtained  a  capital.  The  possession  of  capital 
leads  to  the  institution  of  property  :  it  also  leads  to  the 
division  of  employments.  Some  members  of  the  society 
still  co-operate  in  the  production  of  food  ;  others  in  making 
instruments  which  facilitate  the  production  of  food ;  and 
between  these  two  parties  an  exchange  takes  place  of  their 
respective  productions :  commerce  has  begun ;  the  power 
of  exchanging,  on  which,  all  economists  agree,  depends  the 
division  of  employments.  But  now,  as  food  is  produced 
with  less  and  less  labour,  the  wants  of  the  society  increase, 
and  a  still  further  distribution  of  employments  takes  place : 
some  build  houses,  some  make  clothes,  and  some  become 
dealers.     Thus  far  it  is  plain  everv  step  in  civilization, 

4 


2G  THE    WEALTII    OF    ENGLAND. 

every  improvement  in  the  productive  powers  of  industry, 
including  distribution  of  employments,  has  rested  on  con- 
cert or  combination  among  all  the  members  of  the  society. 

But,  thus  fur,  all  the  members  of  the  society  are  supposed 
to  possess  equal  portions  of  capital.  Such  a  state  of  things, 
if  it  were  to  last,  would  not  admit  of  much  further  improve- 
ment in  the  productive  powers  of  industry.  No  man  would 
find  others  willing  to  employ  his  capital  for  his  advantage 
as  well  as  their  own,  rather  than  their  own  capital  for  their 
own  exclusive  advantage :  no  man,  consequently,  would 
have  a  motive  for  accumulating  more  capital  than  he  could 
use  with  his  own  hands.  This  is  to  some  extent  the  case 
in  new  American  settlements,  where  a  passion  for  owning 
land  prevents  the  existence  of  a  class  of  labourers  for  hire  ; 
and  where,  consequently,  half  the  crop  is  sometimes  left  to 
rot  upon  the  ground.  In  the  next  place,  so  long  as  the  capi- 
tal of  the  society  was  equally  divided  among  all,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  undertake  any  of  those  works  which  require 
the  employment  of  many  hands  and  a  fixed  capital.  It 
would  be  quite  impossible,  for  instance,  to  build  a  ship  or 
a  bridge  ;  for,  even  if  a  sufficient  number  of  workmen  to 
admit  of  that  division  of  employments  which  takes  place 
in  building  a  ship  or  a  bridge,  should  possess  the  right  sort 
of  capital,  and  a  sufficient  quantity  of  it  to  enable  them  to 
wait  for  distant  returns,  by  what  means  could  that  scattered 
capital  be  combined  ?  and  how  could  the  profits  be  divided  X 
Only,  it  would  appear,  by  the  institution  of  a  joint  stock 
company ;  a  contrivance  for  the  combination  of  capital  in 
particular  works,  which  is  used  only  in  the  advanced  socie- 
ties. Mankind  have  adopted  a  much  more  simple  contriv- 
ance for  promoting  the  accumulation  of  capital,  and  the 
use  of  capita],  when  required,  both  in  large  masses  and  in  a 
fixed  shape  :  they  have  divided  themselves  into  owners  of 
capital  and  owners  of  labour.  But  this  division  was,  in 
fact,  the  result  of  concert  or  combination.  The  capitals  of 
all  being  equal,  one  man  saves  because  he  expects  to  find 
others  willing  to  work  for  him  ;  other  men  spend  because 
they  expect  to  find  some  men  ready  to  employ  them  ;  and 
if  it  were  not  for  this  readiness  to  co-operate,  to  act  in 
concert  or  combination,  the  division  of  the  industrious 
classes  into  capitalists  and  labourers  could  not  be  maintained. 

A  baker  and  a  tailor,  who  deal  with  each  other,  are  said 
to  divide  their  labour:  if  they  did  so  in  reality,  each  of 
them  would  make  both  the  bread  and  the  clothes  which  he 
wanted,  and  there  would  be  no  intercourse  between  them. 


THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND.  27 

Co-operating,  dealing  with,  depending  on  each  other,  they 
combine  their  labour :  it  is  the  employments  which  they 
divide-;  and,  what  is  more,  the  division  of  their  employ- 
ments results  from  the  combination  of  their  labour.  The 
two  men  divide  the  whole  work,  which  is  to  be  performed 
by  their  united  labour  for  their  common  advantage.  The 
workmen  of  a  pin- factory  are  said  to  divide  their  labour  : 
if  they  did  so  in  reality,  each  of  them  would  make  all  the 
parts  of  a  pin.  As  it  is,  each  pin  is  the  produce  of  many 
persons'  united  labour;  many  persons  whose  labour  is 
united  in  order  that  the  work,  which  it  is  to  perform,  may 
be  easily  divided  among  them.  In  this  case,  also,  division 
of  employments  is  an  effect  of  combination  of  labour.  In 
what  case  is  a  work  divided  among  many,  without  combin- 
ing the  labour  of  those  who  are  to  perform  the  work  ? 

But  it  may  be  said  that  this  is  a  question  of  terms  merely  ; 
that  though  there  be  a  marked  difference  between  the  work 
performed  and  the  labour  which  performs  it,  still,  as  either 
labour  is  divided  among  the  several  parts  of  a  work,  or  the 
several  parts  of  a  work  are  divided  among  several  labourers, 
it  is  indifferent  whether  we  say  division  of  work  or  division 
of  labour.  If  so,  by  what  terms  are  we  to  express  that  mi- 
nute division  of  labour  which  takes  place  among  the  cottiers 
of  Ireland,  the  small  farmers  of  France,  and  most  free 
settlers  in  new  colonies :  a  state  of  things,  under  which 
each  labourer  works  by  himself,  and  for  himself  only,  with 
no  larger  capital  than  his  own  hands  can  employ,  without 
exchange,  or  nearly  so,  and  producing,  even  in  the  most 
favourable  case — that  of  the  settler — not  much  more  than 
enough  for  his  own  subsistence.  If  this  be  a  dispute  about 
terms  only,  how  are  we  to  express  that  combination  of  labour 
on  an  English  farm,  or  a  tobacco  plantation  in  Virginia, 
which  enables  the  English  workmen  or  American  slaves  to 
raise  so  much  more  produce  than  they  could  possibly  con- 
sume ?  The  reader  who  may  take  the  trouble  to  find  an 
answer  to  these  questions,  will,  I  cannot  help  thinking,  per- 
ceive, that  "  division  of  labour"  is  an  improper  term  as 
commonly  used  ;  and,  what  is  of  far  greater  consequence, 
that  the  use  of  this  improper  term  has  kept  out  of  sight  the 
first  great  improvement  in  the  productive  powers  of  labour, 
namely,  combination  of  power. 

As  for  building  a  ship  or  making  a  road,  so  in  the  manu- 
facture of  pins,  it  is  necessary  to  employ  a  large  capital. 
A  large  capital,  applied  to  one  purpose,  may  be  said  to  be 
combined.     A  minute  division  of  capital,  such  as  takes 


28  THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND. 

place  among  the  small  farmers  of  France,  the  cottiers  of 
Ireland,  and  most  settlers  in  new  colonies,  is  as  unfavoura- 
ble to  production  as  the  minute  division  of  labour  practised 
in  those  cases. 

Combination  of  capital  and  labour,  or  combination  of 
productive  power,  seems  to  be  of  two  distinct  sorts ;  first, 
that  general  combination  which,  if  there  were  no  restrictions 
on  trade,  would  render  mankind  one  vast  co-operative 
society ;  general  combination,  on  which  depends  that  general 
distribution  of  employments,  or  division  of  work,  under 
which  some  men  grow  tea,  some  dig  for  metals,  and  others 
build  ships,  some  are  farmers,  some  manufacturers,  and 
others  merchants ;  secondly,  that  particular  combination, 
on  which  depends  the  use  of  large  masses  of  capital  and 
labour  in  particular  works,  and  the  most  beneficial  division 
of  those  particular  works. 

Turning  to  the  sources  of  the  wealth  of  England,  her 
agriculture,  manufactures,  and  commerce,  it  will  be  seen 
that  all  these  display  in  the  highest  degree  the  advantages 
of  both  sorts  of  combination  of  power. 

First,  as  to  agriculture.  No  part  of  the  population  of 
America  is  exclusively  agricultural,  excepting  slaves  and 
their  employers,  who  combine  capital  and  labour  in  particu- 
lar works.  Free  Americans,  who  cultivate  the  soil,  follow 
many  other  occupations.  Some  portion  of  the  furniture 
and  tools  which  they  use  is  commonly  made  by  themselves. 
They  frequently  build  their  own  houses;  and  carry  to 
market,  at  whatever  distance,  the  produce  of  their  own 
industry.  They  are  spinners  and  weavers  ;  they  make 
soap  and  candles,  as  well  as,  in  many  cases,  shoes  and 
clothes  for  their  own  use.  In  America,  the  cultivation  of 
land  is  often  the  secondary  pursuit  of  a  blacksmith,  a  miller, 
or  a  shopkeeper.  In  France  a  similar  division  of  capital 
and  labour  takes  place  among  several  employments,  though 
not  to  the  same  extent.  The  number  of  proprietors  of  land 
in  France  is  supposed  to  exceed  5,000,000 ;  the  number  of 
separate  holdings  or  pieces  of  land  is  known  to  be  about 
10,000,000.  But  even  supposing  that,  on  the  average,  each 
proprietor  owns  two  separate  pieces  of  land,  still  it  does 
not  follow  that  two  pieces  of  land  are  generally  cultivated 
by  one  person.  On  the  contrary,  while  the  large  properties 
are  generally  divided  into  several  distinct  farms,  it  does 
not  very  often  happen  thai  two  or  more  of  the  smaller  pro- 
perties are  united  under  a  single  farmer.  Consequently, 
after  making  a  liberal  deduction  for  land  which  is  not  culti- 


THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND.  29 

vated,  the  number  of  farmers  or  cultivators,  not  being  hired 
labourers,  probably  exceeds  5,000,000.  It  is  further  esti- 
mated, that  the  number  of  agricultural  labourers  who  work 
for  hire  amounts,  with  their  wives  and  children,  to  about 
5,000,000.  Of  these,  however,  not  above  two-fifths,  2,000,000, 
can  be  men.  If  the  number  of  farmers  be  5,000,000, 
and  of  farm-servants  2,000,000,  there  must  be  3,000,000 
farmers  who  employ  no  labourers  at  all.  Suppose  each  of 
the  remaining  2,000,000  farmers  to  employ  one  labourer, 
the  agricultural  capital  and  labour  of  France  would  be 
divided  into  5,000,000  parts,  of  which  three-fifths  would  be 
the  smallest  fractions  into  which  capital  and  labour  can  be 
divided,  and  the  remaining  two-fifths  would  consist  of  frac- 
tions only  twice  as  large  as  the  smallest.  Since,  however, 
some  farmers  employ  more  than  one  labourer,  more  than 
3,000,000  farmers  cannot  employ  any  labourers  ;  and  it 
thus  appears  probable,  that  three-fourths,  at  least,  of  the 
agricultural  capital  and  labour  of  France  are  cut  up  into 
the  smallest  possible  fractions,  into  single  pairs  of  hands, 
and  portions  of  capital  such  as  one  pair  of  hands  can  use. 
Limiting  the  smallest  fractions  to  three-fourths  of  the  whole, 
the  remaining  quarter  will  consist  of  1,250,000  capitalists, 
having  among  them  2,000,000  labourers.  If  750,000  of 
these  capitalists  employ  two  labourers  each,  500,000  em- 
ploy about  one  labourer  each  ;  and  for  each  of  them,  who 
is  supposed  to  employ  more  than  two  labourers,  an  addition 
must  be  made  to  that  number,  each  of  whom  employs  only 
one  labourer.  "  II  faut  habiter  un  pays,"  says  a  modern 
French  writer,*  "  ou  tout  le  monde  est  proprietaire,  pour 
se  faire  une  idee  juste  des  inconveniens  et  du  malheur  du 
morcellement  infini  des  biens  territoriaux."  The  mischief 
lies,  however,  in  the  division,  not  of  the  land,  but  of  the 
capital  and  labour  employed  on  the  land. 

One  of  the  evils  resulting  from  the  morcellement  of  agri- 
cultural capital  and  labour  in  France  is,  that  the  farmers 
and  farm-labourers  of  that  country,  like  those  of  the  United 
States  not  being  slave  owners  or  slaves,  do  not  confine 
themselves  to  one  pursuit.  In  England,  on  the  contrary,  a 
farmer  is,  generally  speaking,  nothing  but  a  farmer,  and  an 
agricultural  labourer  works  nowhere  but  on  the  farm. 
The  English  farm  labourer  is  a  miserable  wretch,  no  doubt, 
because  he  obtains  but  a  very  small  share  of  the  produce 

*  M.  de  Bonald  (1826),  quoted  by  Professor  M'Culloch  in  note  XIX. 
{Division  of  Property  by  Will)  of  his  edition  of  Smith's  Wealth  of  Nations. 


30  THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND. 

of  his  labour  ;  but  this  is  a  question,  not  of  distribution,  but 
of  production.  In  England,  the  agricultural  class  seems  to 
have  come  to  an  understanding  with  the  other  classes,  to 
separate  its  employment  from  those  of  the  manufacturer 
and  dealer.  Except  in  some  of  the  wildest  and  worst  cul- 
tivated districts,  the  practice,  which  is  so  common  in  France 
and  America,  of  spinning  wool  by  those  who  keep  flocks,  is 
gone  quite  out  of  fashion.  Whatever  manufactured  object 
or  mechanical  work  is  required  on  an  English  farm,  is  pro- 
cured at  some  shop  in  the  nearest  town,  or  performed  by 
some  mechanic  who  lives  in  the  town.  The  mixed  pro- 
duce of  American  or  French  agriculture  is,  for  the  most 
part,  sold  in  the  nearest  market,  by  those  who  raise  it  to 
those  who  consume  it ;  while  in  England  there  is  between 
the  producers  and  consumers  a  distinct  class  of  dealers, 
subdivided  again  into  particular  classes,  such  as  cattle  job- 
bers, dealers  in  corn,  in  hops,  and  in  wool.  An  English 
farmer  seldom  deals,  even  with  his  own  labourers,  for  any 
part  of  the  produce  of  his  farm  ;  he  pays  for  their  labour 
with  money,  which  they  lay  out,  either  directly  in  the 
nearest  town,  or  through  the  medium  of  village  shopkeep- 
ers. Thus  the  farmer  and  his  men  are  occupied  almost 
exclusively  with  the  business  of  the  farm. 

English  farming  is  also  remarkable  for  a  peculiar  refine- 
ment in  the  distribution  of  employments,  according  to 
various  circumstances  of  soil  and  climate.  The  county  of 
Kent  is  somewhat  more  congenial  to  the  growth  of  hops 
than  the  neighbouring  county  of  Sussex ;  the  Sussex  farmer, 
therefore,  abstains  from  growing  hops,  even  for  his  own 
use  ;  the  beer  which  his  family  drink  is  made  of  hops  grown 
in  Kent.  There  are  some  districts  especially  fit  for  the 
growth  of  natural  and  artificial  grasses  for  fattening  cattle; 
and  the  firmer  of  such  districts  is  seldom  a  cattle-breeder, 
but  purchases  lean  c;ittle  from  jobbers,  who  have  purchased 
them  from  farmers  in  districts  best  suited  to  the  breeding  of 
cattle.  Though  the  inhabitants  of  Norwich  require  a  great 
deal  of  cheese,  yet  the  farmers  thereabouts  do  not  attempt 
to  supply  that  demand.  Their  land  is  less  suited  to  dairy- 
farming  than  the  land  in  Cheshire,  from  which  county 
comes  great  part  of  the  cheese  consumed  in  Norwich; 
while  then;  are  towns  again  in  Cheshire  'which  obtain  the 
greater  part  of  their  Hour  from  distant  spots  peculiarly 
suited  to  the  growth  of  corn.  Examples  without  end  might 
be  cited  of  this  division  of  agricultural  employments,  which 
seems  to  be  carried  to  a  much  higher  pitch  in  England  than 


THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND.  31 

in  any  other  country.  In  France  and  the  United  States, 
though  much  greater  differences  of  climate  occasion  a  more 
marked  separation  of  some  agricultural  employments, — 
such  as  the  production  of  sugar  in  the  southern  states  for 
the  use  of  the  northern  states,  and  of  oil  in  the  south  for  the 
use  of  the  north  of  France, — still  a  French  or  American 
cultivator  generally  seeks  to  raise  whatever  can  be  raised 
on  his  own  land,  which  he  either  wants  himself,  or  for  which 
there  is  any  demand  in  his  own  neighbourhood.  The 
division  of  agricultural  employments  in  England  is  all  the 
more  remarkable,  because  in  England  the  differences  of 
soil  and  climate  are  not  very  remarkable. 

The  advantage  which  England  derives  from  confining 
her  agriculturists  to  agricultural  pursuits,  and,  in  various 
parts  of  the  country,  to  that  particular  mode  of  agriculture 
best  suited  to  each  district,  becomes  manifest  in  the  supe- 
rior skill  of  her  farmers.  The  corn-growers  of  Essex,  Suf- 
folk, and  Norfolk,  the  hop-growers  of  Kent  and  Worcester- 
shire, the  sheep-farmers  of  Sussex  and  Hampshire,  the 
dairy-farmers  of  Gloucestershire  and  Cheshire,  the  cattle- 
breeders  and  cider-growers  of  Devonshire  and  Hereford- 
shire, the  breeders  of  horses  in  Lincolnshire  and  Yorkshire  ; 
all  these,  and  many  more  which  it  would  be  tedious 
to  mention,  apply  to  their  several  pursuits  a  wonderful 
degree  of  knowledge,  forethought,  and  calculation.  It  is 
rather  a  science  than  an  art  which  each  of  them  pursues  ; 
storing  up  the  facts  which  come  to  his  knowledge,  and 
from  a  knowledge  of  those  facts  adopting,  as  a  system,  that 
mode  of  proceeding  from  which  he  expects  the  most  bene- 
ficial results.  Thinking  of  the  pains  which  an  English 
farmer  takes  in  draining  and  manuring  his  fields,  in  the  dis- 
position of  his  land  for  various  crops,  in  the  selection  of 
seeds,  in  the  use  of  the  best  instruments,  in  keeping  up  or 
improving  his  fruit  trees,  in  the  management  of  his  working 
cattle,  in  maintaining  a  peculiar  and  perfect  race  of  cattle 
or  sheep,  and  in  subdividing  the  work  performed  by  his 
united  labourers,  one  might  venture  to  call  him  a  philoso- 
pher ;  though  the  term  would  excite  ridicule  in  England, 
where  science  is  almost  as  much  despised  in  the  abstract 
as  in  practice  it  is  industriously  cultivated. 

But  the  superior  knowledge  of  English  farmers  would  be 
of  little  avail — it  could  not  have  been  acquired  indeed — if 
their  capital  and  labour  had  been  cut  up  into  small  frac- 
tional parts,  as  happens  generally  in  France  and  America. 
In  agriculture  each  farm  is  a  particular  work. 


3'2  THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND. 

The  most  striking  characteristic  of  English  farming  is 
the  combination  of  capital  and  labour  in  particular  works. 
Even  in  England,  those  districts  in  which  the  farms  are 
largest,  and  in  which  each  farmer  employs  the  largest  capi- 
tal and  the  greatest  number  of  labourers,  are  known  to 
produce  more,  in  proportion  to  the  hands  employed,  than 
those  less  civilized  districts  in  which  the  three  elements  of 
production,  land,  capital,  and  labour,  are  divided  into  smaller 
portions.  But  agricultural  capital  and  labour  are  more 
combined  in  those  parts  of  England,  where  the  lowest 
degree  of  combination  occurs,  than  in  those  parts  of  France 
or  America  (slave  plantations  excepted)  which  are  distin- 
guished for  the  highest  degree  of  combination.  In  order  to 
observe  in  the  United  Kingdom  the  bad  effects  of  that  division 
of  capital  and  labour  which  takes  place  in  France  or  Amer- 
ica, one  must  travel  to  Ireland,  where,  in  some  districts,  the 
separate  fractions  of  capital  and  labour  are  almost  as  nu- 
merous as  the  cultivators.  Well-informed  Frenchmen  are 
satisfied  that  the  division  of  capital  and  labour  in  their 
country  will,  if  it  be  carried  much  further,  reduce  the  agri- 
culture of  France  to  a  cottier  system,  like  that  of  some 
parts  of  Ireland,  under  which  the  produce  of  industry  is 
scarcely  more  than  sufficient  to  ieed  those  who  work.  In 
America,  truly,  the  smallest  fraction  of  capital  and  labour 
obtains  a  considerable  produce  ;  but  then  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  in  America  the  chief  element  of  production, 
the  land,  is  not  divided  into  small  pieces  as  in  France  and 
Ireland.  Hereafter  I  shall  have  occasion  to  notice  the 
causes  and  effects  of  the  division  of  capital  and  labour  in 
America.  Recurring  to  the  agricultui-e  of  England,  the 
large  farms  of  that  country  exemplify  the  proverb — union 
is  force.  The  most  scientific  of  English  farmers,  if  he  were 
to  apply  his  knowledge  to  the  cultivation  of  a  single  field, 
would  not  raise  a  much  greater  produce  than  the  most 
ignorant  of  Irish  cottiers.  The  great  extent  of  his  farm 
allows  full  scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  superior  knowledge. 
That  of  which  he  lias  a  superior  knowledge,  is  the  art  of 
cultivation  on  a  targe  scale  :  and  for  the  practice  of  this 
art,  capital  and  labour  in  proportion  to  land  are  indispen- 
sable. Holding  a  largo  farm,  and  employing  capital  and 
labour  in  proportion,  he   is  able  to  wait  lor  distant  returns, 

to  pursue  the  best  course  of  crops,  to  adopt  improvements 
which  at  first  bear  the  character  of  experiments,  to  employ 
many  hands  in  one  field,  at  one  time,  in  one  work,  and  when 
it  is  required]  for  a  considerable   period  of  time  without 


THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND.  38 

intermission ;  finally  is  able  to  make  that  distribution  of 
employments  among  his  labourers,  which,  after  combination 
of  labour  in  single  works,  is  the  greatest  improvement  in 
the  productive  powers  of  industry.  The  results  are  obvious. 
By  means  of  drainage  and  manure,  an  immense  extent  of 
land  in  England  which  was  once  sterile,  now  possesses  the 
highest  degree  of  fertility  ;  and  in  every  part  of  the  country 
the  fertility  of  land  is  carefully  preserved.  In  France,  on 
the  contrary,  the  practice  of  exhausting  the  natural  fertility 
of  land  is  general,  while  in  America  it  may  be  described 
as  almost  universal.*  But  the  grand  result  of  the  superi- 
ority of  English  agriculture  is,  that  while  in  France  about 
two-thirds,  and  in  America  probably  three-quarters,  of  the 
people  are  employed  in  agriculture,  more  than  two-thirds, 
it  is  believed,  of  the  people  of  England,  are  fed  by  the  agri- 
cultural industry  of  less  than  one-third.  The  greatness 
of  England,  notwithstanding  laws  which  forbid  her  manu- 
facturers to  exchange  the  produce  of  their  industry  for  the 
surplus  food  of  other  countries,  is  incomprehensible  to  a  for- 
eigner until  he  observes  the  excellence  of  her  agriculture. 
That  excellence  consists  in  raising  from  a  given  extent  of 
land,  without  impoverishing  the  land,  and  with  a  given 
number  of  hands,  a  far  greater  produce  than  results  from 
the  labour  of  the  same  number  of  hands,  on  the  same  extent 
of  soil,  in  any  other  part  of  the  wrorld.f 

Less  than  one-third  of  the  people  being  engaged  in  agri- 
culture, more  than  two-thirds  are  set  free,  as  it  were,  to 
follow  other  pursuits.  Of  these  a  considerable  proportion 
are  engaged  in  manufactures.  The  vastness  of  the  pro- 
duce of  English  manufacturing  industry,  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  hands  employed,  may  be  roughly  esti- 
mated by  three  separate  considerations :  first,  the  power 
of  tens  of  millions  of  men  is  obtained  from  steam,  which 
produces  without  consuming ;  secondly,  notwithstanding  a 
load  of  English  restrictions  on  trade,  the  English  are,  by 

*  The  causes  of  the  exhaustion  of  land  in  the  United  States  are  ex- 
plained in  the  note  on  the  Origin,  Progress,  and  Prospects  of  Slavery  in 
America. 

t  "  No  one  will  presume  to  say  that  the  agriculture  of  France  is  nearly 
as  well  improved  as  that  of  Britain — that  it  is  not  indeed  a  hundred  years 
behind  ours,  and  yet  while  there  are  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  people  of 
France  employed  in  this  inferior  cultivation,  less  than  one-third  of  our 
people  suffice  to  carry  on  the  infinitely  superior  system  of  cultivation  adopted 
in  this  country.  It  is  in  this  single  circumstance  that  the  great  superiority 
of  our  domestic  economy  over  that  of  the  French  chiefly  consists." — Pro- 
fessor M,Culloch"s  Edition  of  Smith's  Wealth  of  Nations — Note  XIX.  vol.  iv. 
page  475. 

5 


34  THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND. 

means  of  their  manufactures,  the  greatest  commercial 
people  in  the  world  ;  thirdly,  notwithstanding  heavy  taxa- 
tion and  the  high  price  of  food  in  England,  objects  of  Eng- 
lish manufacture  are  so  cheap  as  to  drive  out  of  any  market, 
where  fair  competition  is  allowed,  similar  objects  made  any 
where  but  in  England. 

As  in  agriculture,  so  in  manufactures,  every  improve- 
ment in  the  productive  powers  of  industry  may  be  traced 
to  general  and  particular  combination  of  power,  leading  to 
genera]  and  particular  division  of  employment. 

The  same  complete  division  of  employments,  which 
makes  the  English  farmer  nothing  but  a  farmer,  makes  all 
the  English  people  who  are  engaged  in  manufactures  nothing 
but  manufacturers.  Further,  while  in  France  and  America 
the  capital  of  one  man  is  frequently  divided  among  several 
different  manufactures,  the  attention  of  the  English  manu- 
facturing capitalist  is  confined  almost  exclusively  to  a 
single  object.  Thus  the  English  manufacturer  is,  as  such, 
a  man  of  single  purpose,  "  a  man  with  one  idea."  Hence 
that  earnest,  unremitting  and  successful  pursuit  of  im- 
provement, which  is  conspicuous  in  every  branch  of  English 
manufacture. 

Another  peculiarity  in  English  manufactures  seems 
worthy  of  remark ;  I  allude  to  the  congregation  in  one 
place  of  vast  numbers  who  are  engaged  in  the  same  branch 
of  manufacture.  In  some  cases,  no  doubt,  the  main  scat 
of  a  particular  fabric  is  determined  by  natural  circum- 
stances, such  as  abundance  of  coal  or  iron,  or  falling  water  : 
in  other  cases  it  appears  to  have  been  settled  by  accident. 
In  every  case,  however,  that  congregation  of  numbers  en- 
gaged in  the  same  pursuit,  by  promoting  the  interchange 
of  many  persons'  thoughts  on  one  all-engrossing  subject,  by 
exciting  the  inventive  powers,  by  preventing  a  fortunate 
discoverer  from  monopolizing  the  us*'  of  his  invention,  and 
above  all,  by  stimulating  competition,  must  have  had  a  large 
share  in  the  progress  of  improvement. 

The  great  effects  of  particular  combination  are  still  more 
plain.  For  the  success  of  some  fabrics,  a  high  and  constant 
temperature  is  required.  This  could  no!  be  obtained  by 
any  one  of  a  number  of  small  manufacturers:  it  is  easily 
obtained  by  him  who  employs  a  large  capital,  and  collects 
a  greal  many  people  under  one  roof.  There  is  scarcely 
any-  fabric  ot  >•  Iik-Ii  the  produce  in  proportion  to  the  hands 
employed,  is  nol  greatly  augmented  by  the  use  of  Bteam 
power;  bul  it  is  of  the  essence  of  steam  power  to 
effect  to  the  labour  of  united  numbers.     The  general  use 


THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND.  35 

of  steam  power  in  England  depends,  therefore,  on  the  com- 
bination of  capital  and  labour  in  particular  works.  The 
distribution  among  many  hands  of  the  several  parts  of  a 
particular  work  is  greatly  facilitated  by  the  congregation  of 
many  hands  under  one  roof.  In  England,  accordingly,  all 
the  most  nourishing  manufactures  are  carried  on  in  large 
factories,  with  large  capitals,  and  by  a  great  number  of 
hands,  brought  together  for  the  purpose  of  distributing 
among  them  the  several  parts  of  each  work.  Those  manu- 
factures which  are  conducted  by  small  fractions  of  capital 
and  labour,  such  as  the  silk  works  of  Spitalfields  and  the 
lace  works  of  Buckinghamshire,  are  rapidly  perishing  :  that 
is,  they  are  in  the  course  of  being  superseded  by  the  use 
of  large  factories  ;  those  which  have  been  mentioned,  by 
the  large  silk  factories  of  Macclesfield  and  Manchester,  and 
by  the  large  lace  factories  of  Nottingham  and  Tiverton. 
Universally,  indeed,  throughout  all  the  branches  of  English 
manufactures,  as  in  all  of  them  there  is  an  obvious  tendency 
to  improvement,  so  in  all  of  them  one  observes  a  tendency 
to  increased  combination  of  capital  and  labour  in  particular 
works. 

The  commerce  of  England,  both  domestic  and  foreign, 
exhibits,  like  her  agriculture  and  manufactures,  a  high 
degree  of  combination  of  power,  both  general  and  particu- 
lar. The  whole  commercial  work  performed  by  the  people 
of  England  is  so  admirably  distributed  that  one  might 
imagine  it  to  be  under  the  control  of  a  single  will ;  while 
no  particular  operation  languishes  for  want  of  sufficient 
force  to  carry  it  on.  In  vain  might  the  state  of  New- York 
have  projected  the  Erie  canal,  if  a  supply  of  labour  for 
completing  it  had  not  been  obtained  from  Ireland:  that 
great  work  was  performed  by  Irishmen,  and  could  not 
have  been  performed  with  American  free  labour,  which, 
for  reasons  to  be  stated  hereafter,  can  seldom  be  used  in 
combination.*     The  peculiar  skill  with  which  the  English 

*  "  The  truth  is,"  says  Captain  Basil  Hall  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Wilmot 
Horton,  published  by  the  latter,  "  that  there  is  no  hired  labouring  class, 
properly  so  called,  in  any  part  of  America,  excepting  where  the  ground,  is 
tilled  by  negro  slaves :  I  mean  that  there  is  no  class  of  men  who  support 
themselves  permanently,  by  wages  derived  from  labouring  in  the  service  of 
others.  There  is,  in  fact,  no  labour  to  be  had  for  hire,  of  such  a  sort,  at 
least,  as  to  produce  permanently  a  return  greater  than  the  wages  which  such 
hired  labourer  requires.  I  speak  now  of  agricultural  labour;  and  I  may 
say  that  it  is  almost  an  axiom  in  those  countries,  that  there  is  no  productive 
labour  in  the  fields  of  a  new  country,  except  that  ichich  results  from  the  sweat 
of  the  proprietor's  vicn  brow.  Canals  and  other  casual  public  works,  and 
other  menial  service  of  the  cities,  and  even  the  smaller  towns,  must,  of  course, 


36  THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND. 

apply  capital  and  labour  to  the  business  of  exchange,  might 
be  proved  by  a  thousand  facts :  four  of  the  most  remarkable 
will  suffice  for  this  general  notice.  First,  while  in  France 
or  America,  the  prices  of  the  same  commodity  are  often 
very  different  at  different  but  not  very  distant  places,  all 
over  England  prices  are  nearly  always  on  a  level :  secondly, 
it  is  estimated  that  the  rail-road  between  Manchester  and 
Liverpool  saves  600,000/.  a  year  on  the  cost  of  carriage 
for  goods  and  passengers  between  those  two  towns  only  : 
thirdly,  the  best  informed  persons  concur  in  supposing,  that 
twenty-nine  thirtieths,  at  least,  of  the  currency  of  the 
northern  manufacturing  districts  consist  of  bills  of  exchange, 
which,  though  they  circulate  with  much  greater  ease  than 
silver  or  gold,  cost  next  to  nothing :  fourthly,  the  foreign 
and  domestic  bills  of  exchange  payable  by  bankers  in  Lon- 
don, which  often  amount  to  some  millions  in  one  day,  in- 
stead of  being  presented  for  payment  each  bill  to  the  house 
on  which  it  is  drawn,  are  all  carried  to  the  same  spot, 
where  a  general  exchange  of  bills  takes  place  among  the 
several  houses  ;  and  in  this  way,  one  clerk  from  each  house 
performs  in  an  hour  or  two,  and  without  any  money,  a 
work  which,  if  each  bill  had  been  presented  to  the  house  on 
which  it  was  drawn,  would  have  required  the  labour  of 
several  clerks,  from  all  the  houses,  during  many  hours,  and 
the  use  of  some  millions  of  money. 

This  brief  notice  of  the  sources  of  England's  wealth  shows 
why  that  wealth  is  so  great  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
people  who  enjoy  it ;  and  the  more  the  subject  shall  be  ex- 
amined, the  more  plainly,  I  feel  assured,  will  it  appear,  that, 
in  all  countries,  the  produce  of  industry  must  be  in  proportion 
to  the  degree  in  which  capital  and  labour  are  combined 
and  employments  are  divided.  But  it  may  be  said  that 
this  is  an  idle  speculation,  leading  to  no  conclusions  of  prac- 
tical utility  ;  that,  whether  or  not  the  great  wealth  of  Eng- 
land be  owing  to  combination  of  power,  the  English  will 
continue  to  pursue  that  course  which  tiny  find  so  product- 
ive ;  and  that  other  nations  will  not  follow  their  example 
one  day  sooner  in  consequence  of  perceiving  the  causes  of 
their  wealth.  To  meet  such  observations,  1  offer  the  fol- 
lowing conclusions,  derived  from  the  principle  that,  as  re- 
spects the  produce  of  industry,  union  is  force. 

bo  done  by  hireling!;  l>ut  I  musl  again  and  again  remark,  that  it  is  the 
character  itic  fi  iture  <>f  ;ill  kinds  of  labour  in  those  countries  to  be  for  the 
time  only." 

t' The  workmen  employed  (in  making  a  road  in  New-York  ytate)  nr« 
chiefly  Irish." — Stuart,  vol.  ii.,  page  W. 


THE    WEALTH    OF    EXGLAXD.  37 

1.  I  have  said  that  combination  of  power  appears  to  be 
of  two  distinct  kinds,  general  and  particular,  leading  to  two 
distinct  kinds  of  division  of  employments.  But  this  dis- 
tinction has  been  drawn  merely  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
plaining a  principle  not  hitherto  noticed.  Considering  the 
operation  of  industry  throughout  the  world  as  one  great 
work,  it  will  be  seen  that  all  the  parts  of  the  work,  from  so 
great  a  part  as  the  growth  of  tea  in  China,  to  so  small  a 
one  as  the  making  of  a  pin's  head  in  England,  are  product- 
ive in  proportion  to  the  degree  in  which  men  help  each 
other.  Here  then  we  perceive  exactly,  how  war  between 
nations,  and  restrictions  on  trade,  interfere  with  the  pro- 
ductions of  wealth  ;  how  friendly  intercourse  among  differ- 
ent nations,  by  promoting  concert  or  combination,  on  which 
depends  division  of  employments,  adds  to  the  general 
powers  of  industry ;  how  facilities  of  communication 
among  different  countries,  and  in  each  country,  promote 
the  increase  of  wealth  ;  how  a  new  road  or  canal  enables 
more  people  to  live  in  comfort;  and  how  millions  owe  all 
their  enjoyments,  nay,  their  very  existence,  to  the  institu- 
tion of  the  post  for  letters. 

2.  From  considering  the  increase  of  productive  power 
derived  from  combination,  one  perceives  how  various  ten- 
ures of  land  in  different  countries,  and  in  the  same  country, 
influence  the  production  of  wealth.  Three  examples  will 
suffice.  The  poverty  of  French  agriculture, — the  large 
proportion  of  the  people  of  France  who  are  engaged  in 
agriculture,  leaving  but  a  small  proportion  for  other  pur- 
suits,— is  owing  to  the  law  of  division,  which  at  a  French- 
man's death  cuts  up  his  estate  into  portions  as  numerous 
as  his  children.  In  Ireland,  again,  it  is  the  minute  subdi- 
vision of  land,  which  causes  a  minute  subdivision  of  capital 
and  labour,  and  renders  the  produce  of  agricultural  industry, 
in  proportion  to  the  hands  employed,  so  much  less  than 
that  of  the  same  kind  of  industry  in  England.  Lastly,  a 
history  of  colonization  would  show,  that  all  new  colonies, 
having  a  vast  territory  at  their  disposal,  have  prospered  or 
languished  according  as  the  governments  by  which  they 
were  founded  took  care,  or  neglected,  to  dispose  of  the  land 
to  be  colonized  with  a  view  to  combination  of  power 
among  the  colonists.  In  the  case  of  the  last  colony  founded 
by  England,  the  greatest  pains  were  taken  to  disperse  the 
colonists,  to  cut  up  their  capital  and  labour  into  the  small- 
est fractional  parts,  whence  a  miserable  failure  with  all  the 


38  THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND. 

elements  of  success  :  but  on  this  subject  I  have  to  dwell  at 
length  in  another  place.* 

3.  By  ascertaining  how  much  the  productiveness  of  Eng- 
lish industry  depends  on  the  most  artificial  combination 
of  labour  and  division  of  employments;  by  perceiving  the 
extreme  complication  of  the  machine  which  produces  the 
wealth  of  England,  and  the  close  dependence  of  all  its  parts 
upon  each  other,  the  English  may  learn  the  peculiar  evils 
which  any  serious  political  convulsion  would  inflict  on 
them. 

After  exhausting  the  language  of  admiration  in  a  de- 
scription of  the  actual  wealth  of  England,  one  might  suppose 
that  in  this  respect  the  English  could  make  no  further  pro- 
gress. This  would  be  a  mistake.  It  would  be  hard  to 
name  a  single  instance  of  the  wealth  of  England,  which 
does  not  exhibit,  at  this  present  time,  a  tendency  to  im- 
provement. Though  of  late  years  the  roads  of  England 
have  been  reckoned  the  best  in  the  world,  yet  on  every 
great  road,  and  many  cross-roads,  some  striking  improve- 
ment is  now  taking  place.  Though  the  carriage  and  foot 
pavements  of  English  towns  have  long  been  celebrated  as 
perfect,  yet  these  are,  as  well  in  country  towns  as  in  Lon- 
don, in  the  course  of  being  greatly  improved.  The  number 
of  good  houses  in  London,  and  of  people  who  can  afford  to 
keep  a  carriage,  astonishes  a  foreigner ;  yet  in  every  di- 
rection new  houses  of  this  class  are  in  the  course  of  being 
built ;  and  no  soooner  arc  a  hundred  of  them  finished,  than 
they  are  all  occupied,  and  each  of  them  has  a  carriage  at 
the  door.  In  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  old  streets,  all 
over  England,  you  will  find  new  houses  greatly  superior  to 
those  by  their  side.  The  difference  in  point  of  utility  and 
appearance  between  old  houses  which  are  pulled  down  in 
London  and  those  which  take  their  place,  is,  universally, 
almost  as  great  as  the  difference  between  the  old  and  new 
London  bridges;  a  difference  which  is  striking  to  the  Eng- 
lish themselves,  and  is  grateful  even  to  such  of  them  as, 
hating  innovation,  love  to  talk  of  the  wisdom  of  their  an- 
cestors. But  a  catalogue  of  those  objects,  which  exhibit 
the  actual  progress  of  improvement  in  England,  would 
comprise  nearly  all  that  is  necessary,  useful,  or  agreeable 
to  Englishmen :  it  would  include  everj  useful  or  orna- 
mental art,  from  the  great  arts  of  printing,  architecture,  en- 
gineering, painting,  and    sculpture,   down  to   the   lowest 

•  Note  XII. 


THE    WEALTH    OF    ENGLAND.  39 

occupation  of  human  industry  ;  besides  the  whole  list  of 
sciences,  from  the  most  important,  such  as  chymistry, 
medicine,  and  government,  down  to  the  meanest  depart- 
ment of  human  knowledge.  In  England,  improvement  is 
everywhere.  In  England,  advancement  from  good  to 
better  is  a  universal  principle.  Where  all  this  will  end, 
who  will  venture  to  predict?  Sober  imaginations  are  con- 
founded by  observing  the  very  rapid  progress  which 
wealthy  and  civilized  England  is  at  this  time  making  in 
wealth  and  civilization. 


NOTE  II. 

MISERY    OF    THE    BULK    OF    THE    PEOPLE. 

Who  are  the  bulk  of  the  people — Misery  of  the  bulk  of  the  people  a  favour- 
ite topic  in  England — Proofs  of  misery — What  is  a  pauper — Factory  chil- 
dren— Irish  wages — Increase  of  gin-shops — Cheapness  of  English  chil- 
dren— Murder  of  Parish  apprentices — Other  trades  in  pauper  children — 
Climbing  boys — Prostitutes — Cheapness  of  women — Degradation  of  the 
common  people — The  common  people  are  too  cheap  to  be  happy. 

Among  our  wise  ancestors  the  bulk  of  the  people  was 
slaves,  as  is  still  the  case  in  Russia  and  the  southern  states 
of  North  America.  In  modern  states,  which  deserve  to 
be  called  civilized,  a  part  of  the  people  consists  of  the 
labouring  class ;  that  is,  a  class,  whose  only  property  is 
their  labour,  and  who  live  by  the  sale  of  that  property  to 
the  other  classes.  The  proportion  which  the  labouring 
class  bears  to  the  other  classes,  is  very  different  in  several 
of  the  most  civilized  modern  states.  In  the  northern  states 
of  the  American  Union,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  so  many 
as  a  tenth  of  the  people  would  fall  under  the  description  of 
hired  labourers.*  In  France,  the  morcelkment  of  land  has 
converted  a  very  large  portion  of  the  people  into  the  class 
of  proprietors  of  land.     Deducting   from   the  remainder 

*  "  Although  it  is  not  a  general  practice  for  gentlemen  in  Mr.  Verplanck's 
situation  in  this  part  of  the  United  States,  in  which  I  mean  to  comprehend 
the  populous  parts  of  New-York,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  England,  to 
be  thus  actively  employed  in  agricultural  operations,  I  mean  actually  to 
work  with  their  farm-servants,  nothing  is  more  common  in  the  United  States, 
taken  as  a  whole,  than  for  proprietors  to  work  in  the  field  at  the  same  occu- 
pation as  their  servants." — Stuart,  vol.  i.,  page  460. 


40  THE    WEALTH    OP    ENGLAND. 

the  class  of  capitalists,  those  who  live  on  government  an- 
nuities, soldiers,  and  indeed  all  who  do  not  labour  for  wages, 
the  labouring  class,  properly  so  called,  will  not  be  esti- 
mated at  more  than  a  third  of  the  whole  population.  In 
Ireland,  the  cottier  system  takes  a  great  majority  of  the 
people  out  of  the  class  of  hired  labourers,  and  turns  them 
into  something  between  capitalists  and  workmen.  In  Spain 
and  Portugal,  if  these  may  be  called  civilized  nations,  the 
class  of  people  who  sell  their  labour,  who  live  by  wages, 
seems  to  be  very  small  indeed.  In  some  of  the  Italian 
states,  hired  labourers  bear  a  small  proportion  to  the  other 
classes.  On  the  continent  of  Europe,  the  proportion  of 
hired  labourers  appears  to  be  greatest  in  Holland.  But  in 
England,  where  the  system  of  large  farms  is  established, 
where  a  great  part  of  the  population  is  engaged  in  manu- 
factures, and  where,  in  every  department  of  industry,  a 
complete  separation  has  taken  place  between  capitalists 
and  workmen,  the  labouring  class  compose  the  bulk  of  the 
people,  the  great  body  of  the  people,  the  vast  majority  of 
the  people, — these  are  the  terms  by  which  English  writers 
and  speakers  usually  describe  those  whose  only  property 
is  their  labour. 

If  there  be  one  subject  in  particular  upon  which  English- 
men love  to  dwell,  it  is  the  misery  and  degradation  of  the 
bulk  of  the  people.  Every  year  that  melancholy  subject 
forms  the  matter  of  numerous  petitions  to  the  legislature,  of 
many  speeches  in  parliament,  of  discussion  at  public  meet- 
ings in  all  parts  of  the  country,  of  some  large  volumes,  of 
innumerable  pamphlets,  and  of  frequent,  one  might  say 
constant,  remarks  in  nearly  all  newspapers,  and  in  all  po- 
litical magazines.  There  are  some  cheap  newspapers, 
writen  expressly  for  the  labouring  class,  which  treat  of 
scarce  any  thing  else  ;  and  the  political  sect  called  Ovven- 
ites  talk  of  nothing  else.  But  the  writers  of  these  cheap 
newspapers,  and  these  sectaries,  differ  from  writers  and 
speakers  of  the  conservative  or  lory  party  only  as  to  the 
way  of  curing  the  misery  of  the  bulk  of  the  people.  The 
Standard  newspaper,  Blacks  ood's  .Magazine,  and  the  Quar- 
terly Review,  all  high  tory  journals,  dwell  on  the  preva- 
lence of  misery  with  as  much  zeal  as  the  Poor  Man's  Guar- 
dian, and  other  radical  publications.  Mr.  Owen,  Mr.  Car- 
,  and    Mr.  Cobbetl   do   not  appear  more  anxious    than 

.Mr.  Sadler  and  Dr.  Southey  to  remove  the  misery  of  the 
working  classes.  Mr.  Sadler,  who,  by-the- way,  has  written 
a  large   book  on  the  causes  and  remedies  of  pauperism, 


MISERY    OP   THE    BULK    OF    THE    PEOPLE.  41 

lately  declared  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  the  working 
classes  in  England  are  white  slaves.  It  was  a  tory  bishop 
who  first  called  the  attention  of  the  House  of  Lords  to  the 
fact,  that  Englishmen  are  harnessed  to  carts  like  cattle. 
Mr.  Wilmot  Horton,  after  Mr.  Sadler  the  most  industrious 
writer  and  speaker  on  the  subject  of  pauperism,  who  lately 
delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on  that  subject  at  the  London 
Mechanics'  Institution,  was  a  member  of  parliament,  a  privy 
counsellor,  and  a  tory.  Concerning  the  misery  and  degra- 
dation of  the  bulk  of  the  people  of  England,  men  of  every 
order,  as  well  as  every  party,  unite  and  speak  continually ; 
farmers,  parish  officers,  clergymen,  magistrates,  judges  on 
the  bench,  members  on  either  side  of  both  houses  of  parlia- 
ment, the  king  in  his  addresses  to  the  nation,  moralists, 
statesmen,  philosophers ;  and,  finally,  the  poor  creatures 
themselves,  whose  complaints  are  loud  and  incessant. 

"Of  comprehensive  words,  the  two  most  frequently  used 
in  English  politics  are  distress  and  pauperism.  After  these, 
of  expressions  applied  to  the  state  of  the  poor,  the  most 
common  are  vice  and  misery,  wretchedness,  sufferings, 
ignorance,  degradation,  discontent,  depravity,  drunkenness, 
and  the  increase  of  crime ;  with  many  more  of  a  like  na- 
ture. The  measures  which  have  been  gravely  proposed 
as  remedies  for  the  misery  of  the  English  working  classes 
amount  to  at  least  nineteen  ;  namely,  a  fall  of  rent ;  the 
conversion  of  tythes  to  the  use  of  the  poor  ;  more  pro- 
tection for  home  manufactures  ;  the  repeal  of  the  corn 
laws;  abolition  of  the  poor  laws  ;  correction  of  the  poor 
laws ;  poor  laws  for  Ireland ;  spade  husbandry :  home 
colonization  ;  gardens  and  cows  for  the  poor  ;  abolition  of 
the  national  debt ;  other  modes  of  lessening  taxation  ;  a 
more  liberal  expenditure  by  the  government ;  more  paper 
money  ;  emigration ;  universal  suffrage  ;  moral  restraint, 
or  promiscuous  intercourse  ;  and  property  in  common,  or 
rather  no  property  at  all.  Each  of  these  specifics  is 
earnestly  recommended  by  its  partisans,  and  as  vehe- 
mently opposed  by  the  partisans  of  nearly  all  the  others ; 
but  on  two  points  nearly  all  parties  agree.  They  concur 
in  describing  as  excessive  the  evil  which  it  is  their  object 
to  cure,  and  in  expressing  their  solemn  belief  that,  unless  a 
remedy  be  found  for  it,  some  dreadful  convulsion  must  en- 
sue. Upon  the  latter  of  these  points  I  shall  have  to  remark 
in  another  place ;  the  former  is  the  proper  subject  of  this 
note. 

There  are  proofs  without  end  of  the  misery  of  the  bulk 

6 


42  MISERY    OF    THE    BULK    OF    THE    PEOPLE. 

of  the  English  people.  The  late  insurrection  of  the  pea- 
santry of  the  south  of  England,  and  the  modern  practice 
of  burning  farm-produce,  are  universally  attributed  to  the 
misery  and  discontent  of  those  unfortunate  beings.  If  the 
English  had  been  a  martial  people,  those  forlorn  men,  once 
roused  as  they  were,  would  either  have  destroyed  the 
classes  whom  they  consider  their  oppressors,  or  have  per- 
ished in  a  servile  war.  White  slaves  they  have  been 
properly  called.  It  was  some  of  this  class  whom  a  bishop 
described  as  being  harnessed  to  carts  like  cattle.  In 
America,  too,  they  harness  men  to  carts ;  but  then  they 
treat  them  as  valuable  cattle ;  give  them  plenty  to  eat ; 
shelter  them  from  the  weather  ;  keep  them  in  good  heart ; 
and  bring  up  their  little  ones  in  clover.  English  slaves  are 
harnessed  to  carts,  and  ill-fed,  ill-clothed,  ill-housed,  and 
variously  ill-treated  into  the  bargain.  American  slaves 
live  longer  than  their  masters,  while  English  slaves  die 
prematurely  of  hunger,  wet,  cold,  and  sorrow.  In  America 
the  increase  of  slaves,  in  one  way  only,  that  is,  by  births, 
is  more  rapid  than  the  increase  of  free  people  in  three 
ways — by  births,  by  the  emancipation  of  slaves,  and  by 
immigration  :  and  the  proportion  of  slaves  being  a  hundred 
years  old  is  1  in  1400,  while  the  same  proportion  of  whites 
is  1  in  about  14,000 ;  showing  a  difference  of  ten  to  one  in 
favour  of  the  longevity  of  slaves.  The  peasant  of  the  south 
of  England  suffers  nearly  all  the  evils,  but  enjoys  none  of 
the  advantages,  of  slavery.  He  is  not  a  freeman,  nor  is  he 
a  slave  ;  he  is  a  pauper.  What  a  pauper  is,  Americans 
may  learn  from  the  following  description  of  the  "  bold  pea- 
santry of  England,"  which  I  extract  from  one  of  the  count- 
less pamphlets  on  pauperism  lately  written  by  Englishmen. 
"  What  is  that  defective  being,  with  calHess  legs  and 
stooping  shoulders,  weak  in  body  and  mind,  inert,  pusil- 
lanimous, and  stupid,  whose  premature  wrinkles  and  furtive 
glance  tell  of  misery  and  degradation  I  That  is  an  English 
peasant  or  pauper  ;  for  the  words  are  synonymous.  His 
sin-  was  a  pauper,  and  his  mother's  milk  wanted  nourish- 
ment. From  infancy  his  food  has  been  bad,  as  well  as 
insufficient;  and  he  now  feels  the  pains  of  unsatisfied  hun- 
g»  r  nearly  whenever  he  is  awake.  But  half-clothed,  and 
never  supplied  with  more  warmth  than  suffices  to  cook  his 
Kanty  meals,  cold  and  wet  come  to  him,  and  stay  by  him, 
with  the  weather.  He  is  married,  of  course;  lor  to  this 
he  would  have  been  driven  by  the  poor  laws,  even  if  he 
had  been,  as  ho  never  was,  sufficiently  comfortable  and 


MISERY    OF    THE    BULK    OF    THE    PEOPLE.  43 

prudent  to  dread  the  burden  of  a  family.  But,  though 
instinct  and  the  overseer  have  given  him  a  wife,  he  has 
not  tasted  the  highest  joys  of  husband  and  father.  His 
partner  and  his  little  ones  being  like  himself  often  hungry, 
seldom  warm,  sometimes  sick  without  aid,  and  always  sor- 
rowful without  hope,  are  greedy,  selfish,  and  vexing  ;  so, 
to  use  his  own  expression,  he  'hates  the  sight  of  them,' 
and  resorts  to  his  hovel  only  because  a  hedge  affords 
less  shelter  from  the  wind  and  rain.  Compelled  by  parish 
law  to  support  his  family,  which  means  to  join  them  in  con- 
suming an  allowance  from  the  parish,  he  frequently  con- 
spires with  his  wife  to  get  that  allowance  increased,  or  pre- 
vent its  being  diminished.  This  brings  begging,  trickery, 
and  quarrelling;  and  ends  in  settled  craft.  Though  he  have 
the  inclination,  he  wants  the  courage  to  become,  like  more 
energetic  men  of  his  class,  a  poacher  or  smuggler  on  a 
large  scale  ;  but  he  pilfers  occasionally,  and  teaches  his 
children  to  lie  and  steal.  His  subdued  and  slavish  manner 
towards  his  great  neighbours  shows  that  they  treat  him  with 
suspicion  and  harshness.  Consequently  he  at  once  dreads 
and  hates  them  ;  but  he  will  never  harm  them  by  violent 
means.  Too  degraded  to  be  desperate,  he  is  only  thor- 
oughly depraved.  His  miserable  career  will  be  short : 
rheumatism  and  asthma  are  conducting  him  to  the  work- 
house, where  he  will  breathe  his  last  without  one  pleasant 
recollection,  and  so  make  room  for  another  wretch,  who 
may  live  and  die  in  the  same  way.  This  is  a  sample  of  one 
class  of  English  peasants.  Another  class  is  composed  of 
men,  who,  though  paupers  to  the  extent  of  being  in  part 
supported  by  the  parish,  were  not  bred  and  born  in  extreme 
destitution,  and  who,  therefore,  in  so  far  as  the  moral  de- 
pends on  the  physical  man,  are  qualified  to  become  wise, 
virtuous,  and  happy.  They  have  large  muscles,  an  up- 
right mien,  and  a  quick  perception.  With  strength,  energy, 
and  skill,  they  would  earn  a  comfortable  subsistence  as  la- 
bourers, if  the  modern  fashion  of  paying  wages  out  of  the 
poor-box  did  not  interfere  with  the  due  course  of  things, 
and  reduce  all  the  labourers  of  a  parish,  the  old  and  the 
young,  the  weak  and  the  strong,  the  idle  and  the  industri- 
ous, to  that  lowest  rate  of  wages,  or  rather  of  weekly  pay- 
ment to  each,  which  in  each  case  is  barely  sufficient  for  the 
support  of  life.  If  there  were  no  poor  laws,  or  if  the  poor 
laws  were  such  that  labour  was  paid  in  proportion  to  the 
work  performed,  and  not  according  to  a  scale  founded  on 
the  power  of  gastric  juice  under  various  circumstances, 


44  MISERY    OF    THE    BILK    OF    THE    PEOPLE. 

these  superior  men  would  be  employed  in  preference  to  the 
inferior  beings  described  above,  would  earn  twice  as  much 
as  the  others  could  earn,  and  would  have  every  motive  for 
industry >  providence,  and  general  good  conduct.     As  it  is, 
their  superior  capacity  as  labourers  is  of  no  advantage  to 
them.     They  have  no  motive  for  being  industrious  or  pru- 
dent.    What  they  obtain  between  labour  and  the  rate  is 
but  just  enough  to  support  them  miserably.     They  are 
tempted  to  marry  for  the  sake  of  an  extra  allowance  from 
the  parish  :  and  they  would  be  sunk  to  the  lowest  point  of 
degradation  but  for  the  energy  of  their  minds,  which  they 
owe  to  their  physical   strength.     Courage    and  tenderness 
are  said  to  be  allied :  men  of  this  class  usually  make  good 
husbands  and   affectionate  parents.     Impelled  by  want  of 
food,  clothes,  and  warmth,  for  themselves  and  their  families, 
they  become  poachers  wherever  game  abounds,  and  smug- 
glers when  opportunity  serves.    By  poaching  or  smuggling, 
or  both,  many  of  them  are  enabled  to  fill  the  bellies  of  their 
children,  to  put  decent  clothes  on  the  backs  of  their  wives, 
and  to  keep  the  cottage  whole,  with  a  good  fire  in  it,  from 
year's  end  to  year's  end.     The  villains  !  why  are  they  not 
taken  up  ?     They  are  taken  up  sometimes,  and  are  hunted 
always,  by  those  who  administer  rural   law.     In  this  way 
they  learn  to  consider  two  sets  of  laws — those  for  the  pro- 
tection of  game,  and  those  for  the  protection  of  home  manu- 
factures— as  specially  made  for  their  injury.     Be  just  to 
our  unpaid  magistrates  !  who  perform  their  duty  even  to 
the  shedding  of  man's  blood,  in  defence  of  pheasants  and 
restrictions  on  trade.     Thus  the  bolder  sort  of  husbandry 
labourers,  by  engaging  in  murderous  conflicts  with  game- 
keepers and  preventive  men,  become  accustomed  to  "deeds 
of  violence,  and,  by  living   in  jails,  qualified   for  the  most 
desperate  courses.     They  also  imbibe  feelings  of  dislike,  or 
rather,  of  bitter  hatred,  towards  the  rural  magistracy,  whom 
they  regard  as  oppressors  and  natural  enemies;  closely  re» 
lembling,  in   this  respect,  the   defective  class  of  peasants 
from  whom  the)  differ  in  so  many  particulars.     Between 
these  two  descriptions  of  peasantry  then'  is  another,  which 
partakes  of  the  characteristics  of  both  classes,  but  in  a 
Blighter  degree,  except  as  regards  their  feaj  and  hatred  of 
die  rural  aristocracy,     (n  the  districts  where  paupers  and 
garm;  abound,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  many  labourers 
net  coming  under  one  of  tin -so  descriptions.     I>v  courtesy, 
the  entire  body  is  culled  the  bold   peasantry  of  England, 
But  is  nothing  done  by  the  "  nobility,  clergy, and  gentry," 


MISERY    OF    THE    BL'LK    OF    THE    PEOPLE.  45 

to  conciliate  the  affection  of  the  pauper  mass,  by  whose 
toil  all  their  own  wealth  is  produced  ?  Charity  !  The 
charity  of  the  poor  laws,  which  paupers  have  been  taught 
to  consider  a  right,  which  operates  as  a  curse  to  the  able- 
bodied  and  well-disposed,  while  it  but  just  enables  the  infirm 
of  all  ages  to  linger  on  in  pain  and  sorrow.  Soup  !  Dogs'- 
meat,  the  paupers  call  it.  They  are  very  ungrateful ;  but 
there  is  a  way  of  relieving  a  man's  necessities  which  will 
make  him  hate  you  ;  and  it  is  in  this  way,  generally,  that 
soup  is  given  to  the  poor.  Books,  good  little  books,  which 
teach  patience  and  submission  to  the  powers  that  be  !  With 
which  such  paupers  as  obtain  them  usually  boil  their  ket- 
tles, when  not  deterred  by  fear  of  the  reverend  donor.  Of 
this  gift  the  design  is  so  plain  and  offensive,  that  its  effect  is 
contrary  to  what  was  intended,  just  as  children  from  whom 
obedience  is  very  strictly  exacted  are  commonly  rebels  at 
heart.  What  else  1  is  nothing  else  done  by  the  rural  rich 
to  win  the  love  of  the  rural  poor?  Speaking,  generally, 
since  all  rules  have  exceptions,  the  privileged  classes  of  our 
rural  districts  take  infinite  pains  to  be  abhorred  by  their 
poorest  neighbours.  They  enclose  commons.  They  stop 
footpaths.  They  wall  in  their  parks.  They  set  spring- 
guns  and  man-traps.  They  spend  on  the  keep  of  high-bred 
dogs  what  would  support  half  as  many  children,  and  yet 
persecute  a  labouring  man  for  owning  one  friend  in  his  cur. 
They  make  rates  of  wages,  elaborately  calculating  the  mini- 
mum of  food  that  will  keep  together  the  soul  and  body  of  a 
clodhopper.  They  breed  game  in  profusion  for  their  own 
amusement,  and  having  thus  tempted  the  poor  man  to 
knock  down  a  hare  for  his  pot,  they  send  him  to  the  tread- 
mill, or  the  antipodes,  for  that  inexpiable  offence.  They 
build  jails,  and  fill  them.  They  make  new  crimes  and  new 
punishments  for  the  poor.  They  interfere  with  the  mar- 
riages of  the  poor,  compelling  some,  and  forbidding  others 
to  come  together.  They  shut  up  paupers  in  workhouses, 
separating  husband  and  wife,  in  pounds  by  day  and  wards 
by  night.  They  harness  poor  men  to  carts.  They  super- 
intend alehouses,  decry  skittles,  deprecate  beer-shops,  med- 
dle with  fairs,  and  otherwise  curtail  the  already  narrow 
amusements  of  the  poor.  Even  in  church,  where  some 
of  them  solemnly  preach  that  all  are  equal,  they  sit  on 
cushions,  in  pews  boarded,  matted,  and  sheltered  by  cur- 
tains from  the  wind  and  the  vulgar  gaze,  while  the  lower 
order  must  put  up  with  a  bare  bench  on  a  stone  floor,  which 
is  good  enough  for  them.     Everywhere  they  are  ostentar 


46  MISERY    OF    THE    BULK    OF    TUE    PEOPLE. 

tious  in  the  display  of  wealth  and  enjoyment ;  while,  in 
their  intercourse  with  the  poor,  they  are  suspicious,  quick 
at  taking  offence,  vindictive  when  displeased,  haughty,  over- 
bearing, tyrannical,  and  wolfish  ;  as  it  seems  in  the  nature 
of  man  to  be  towards  such  of  his  fellows  as,  like  sheep, 
are  without  the  power  to  resist." 

In  the  parishes  of  the  north  of  England  the  system  of 
pauperism  has  not  been  so  generally  established.  This  dif- 
ference is  commonly  attributed  to  the  prevalence  of  manu- 
factures in  the  north.  JJut  then,  the  misery  of  the  labour- 
ing class  employed  in  manufactures,  though  different  in 
some  respects  from  the  misery  that  attends  the  pauper 
system,  is  equal  to  it  in  degree,  if  not  more  obvious  and 
deplorable.  Last  year  a  mass  of  evidence  was  laid  before 
parliament,  touching  the  condition  of  children  employed  in 
factories,  which  describes  a  system  of  torture,  compared 
with  which  the  treatment  of  American  slaves  appears  truly 
benevolent.  When  this  evidence  was  published,  the  whole 
press  of  England  repeated,  day  after  day,  that  the  worst 
kind  of  slavery  exists  in  England.  Children  of  tender 
years,  it  was  shown,  babies  they  would  be  called  in  Amer- 
ica, are  shut  up  in  factories  during  12,  14  and  16  hours 
every  week-day,  and  there  compelled  to  work  incessantly, 
or  as  hard,  at  least,  as  their  slight  frames  will  permit,  and 
for  wages  which  but  just  satisfy  their  ruined  appetites. 
The  pale  cheeks,  parched  lips,  swoln  stomachs,  deformed 
limbs,  and  melancholy  looks  of  these  little  wretches  will  be 
easily  imagined.  They  die  off  with  strange  rapidity;  but 
the  places  of  those  who  perish  are  instantly  filled,  and  a 
frequent  change  of  persons  makes  no  alteration  in  the 
scene. 

To  remedy  this  evil  a  law  is  proposed,  to  fix  within  some 
limit  dictated  by  common  humanity  the  number  of  hours 
during  which  children  shall  be  employed  in  factories.  But 
let  us  suppose  that  a  law  should  be  passed,  of  which  the 
humanity  would  not  appear  extravagant,  to  forbid  altogether 
the  employment  of  young  children  in  factories.  The  con- 
sequence of  such  a  law  must  be,  thai  the  parents  of  chil- 
dren who  had  been  employed  in  factories  would  no  longer 
be  able  to  support  those  children.  No  parent,  no  mother, 
who  has  the  means  of  supporting  a  child  ;>t  home,  semis  it 
to  be  worked  to  death  in  a  factory  :  unless  we  are  to  sup- 
pose, what  has,  indeed,  been  asserted  by  some,  that  the 
working  class  in  the  manufacturing  districts  are  so  deeply 
degraded  as  to  sell  their  children's  labour,  or  lives,  delibe- 


MISERY    OF    THE    BULK    OF    THE    PEOPLE.  47 

rately  for  the  sake  of  gin.  Not  believing  this  assertion, 
though  it  may  be  true  in  a  few  cases,  it  appears  to  me  that 
the  only  choice  of  the  parents  lies  between  two  evils ;  on 
the  one  hand  the  factory,  with  its  probable  result,  death  by 
disease,  of  which  the  progress  is  hardly  perceptible  ;  on  the 
other,  immediate,  palpable  starvation  at  home.  Such  a  law 
as  I  have  supposed  would  deprive  the  parents  of  this  choice, 
would  compel  them  to  suffer  that  evil  which,  since  they  seek 
to  avoid  it,  they  appear  to  consider  the  greater  of  the  two. 
I  make  this  remark,  not  to  disparage  the  humanity  of  those 
who  would  pass  laws  for  the  mitigation  of  English  slavery, 
but  for  the  purpose  of  explaining,  that  the  misery  of  these 
factory  children  results  from  the  misery  of  their  parents  : 
they  are  all  miserable,  fathers,  mothers,  and  children. 

Though  the  remote  causes  of  their  misery  form  the  sub- 
ject of  endless  controversy,  its  immediate  cause  seems  as 
plain  as  that  two  and  two  make  four.  Their  only  property 
is  their  labour.  They  take  this  property  to  market.  They 
find  the  market  overstocked  with  labour  :  there  are  more 
sellers  than  buyers.  The  sellers,  in  order  to  live,  undersell 
each  other,  till  they  reduce  the  market-price  of  their  pro-, 
perty  to  what  political  economists  call  the  minimum  of 
wages, — to  that  sum,  namely,  which  will  barely  supply  the 
labourer  with  necessaries  according  to  his  estimate  of  what 
is  necessary.  In  every  condition  of  life  an  Englishman's 
estimate  of  what  is  necessary  rises  above  that  which  is 
formed  by  people  of  the  same  rank  in  most  other  countries. 
To  a  European  labourer,  clothes  are  necessary  :  to  a  Hin- 
doo labourer  they  are  not.  The  necessary  clothes  of  an 
English  labourer  are  better  than  those  of  a  French  labourer. 
An  English  workman  considers  bread  necessary  ;  an  Jrish 
workman  is  content  with  potatoes.  If,  therefore,  the  Eng- 
lish markets  of  labour  were  confined  to  Englishmen,  and 
if,  above  all,  pains  were  taken  to  raise  still  higher  the  Eng- 
lish labourer's  estimate  of  what  is  necessary,  the  minimum 
of  wages  in  England  would  probably  become  sufficient  to 
support  all  labourers  in  a  state  of  decency  and  comfort. 
But  the  English  markets  of  labour,  and  especially  those  of 
manufacturing  labour,  are  not  confined  to  Englishmen  :  they 
are  full  of  Irish  labourers,  who  fly  from  Ireland  to  escape 
death  by  famine.  These,  whose  estimate  of  necessary 
wages  is  a  hovel,  rags,  and  potatoes,  by  underselling  the 
English  workman,  by  consenting  to  work  for  the  lowest 
wages  that  will  support  life,  compel  the  English  labourer  to 
adopt  the  same  course.and  thus  reduce  the  general  minimum 


48  MISERY    OF    THE    BULK    OF    THE    PEOPLE. 

of  wages  to  a  wretched  pittance.  The  Irish  workman  is 
content  with  his  wretchedness  ;  the  English  workman  is 
not.  Here  lies  the  only  difference  between  them.  The 
discontent  of  the  English,  if  properly  encouraged,  might 
soon  lead  to  a  higher  minimum  of  wages,  were  it  not  for 
the  competition  of  the  Irish.  It  is  the  competition  of  Irish 
labour  which  ruins  the  manufacturing  population  of  Eng- 
land. In  some  difficult  manufactures,  truly,  where  the 
labour  of  the  barbarous  and  easily  satisfied  Irishman  would 
not  be  worth  having  at  any  price,  we  find  a  rate  of  wages, 
high  when  compared  with  that  which  always  attends  Irish 
competition.  But  improvements  in  the  use  of  steam  power, 
rendering  the  work  performed  by  man's  labour  more  simple 
and  easy,  have  lately  diminished,  and  wall  still  further 
diminish,  the  number  of  those  difficult  manufactures,  which 
already  must  be  considered  as  exceptions  to  the  general 
rule.  In  English  manufactures,  the  general  rule  is  Irish 
wages. 

English  work  and  Irish  wages  !  "  Peter  Moreau,"  says 
P.  L.  Courier  in  his  Village  Gazette — "  Peter  Moreau  and 
his  wife  are  dead,  aged  twenty-live  years.  Too  much  work 
has  killed  them  ;  and  many  besides.  We  say — work  like  a 
negro,like  a  galley  slave :  we  ought  to  say — work  like  a  free- 
man." I  say,  work  like  a  Lancashire  weaver.  There  is  no 
such  work  in  France  or  America,  even  among  slaves:  all 
day  long,  from  Monday  morning  till  Saturday  night,  week 
after  week,  and  year  alter  year,  till  the  machine  is  worn 
out.  Talk  of  negroes  and  galley  slaves:  American  slaves, 
or  convicts  in  New  South  Wales,  are  fat  and  happy  com- 
pared with  very  many  free-born  Englishmen.  By-the-w  ay, 
it  happens,  not  rarely  so  as  to  be  matter  of  wonder,  but  so 
often  as  to  pass  unnoticed,  that  Englishmen  commit  crimes 
for  the  purpose  of  becoming  galley  slaves  in  New  South 
Wales.  They  do  nol  keep  their  purpose  secret;  they 
declare,  it  loudly,  with  tears  and  passionate  exclamations, 
to  the  magistrate  who  commits  them  for  trial,  to  the  jury 

who  try  them,  and  to  the  judge  who  passes  sentence  on 
them  ;    and  all  this  is    published  in  the   newspapers,  but  so 

often  that  no  one  exclaims — Great  God,  am  1  in  merry 
England  !  Well  may  judgeson  the  bench  talk  of  the  misery 
ami  d<  gradation  of  the  people  ! 

(  M'  this  misery  and  degradation,  there  are  some  who  say 
the  ca  n  :    it  may  be  so,  but  lei  us  see.     Every  one 

remarks  the   incre  in-shops.     in  all  those  parts  of 

Leeds  or  Manchester,  and  ol  London  too,  where  the  poorest 


MISEItY   OP   THE    BULK   OP    THE    PEOPLE.  49 

people  live,  there  you  find,  in  almost  every  dirty  street,  not 
one,  but  several  fine  houses,  handsomely  stuccoed,  curiously 
painted,  ornamented  with  plate-glass  and  polished  brass  ;  in 
the  windows,  placards  inviting  custom  by  such  expressions 
as  "  mountain  dew,"   and   "  cream  of  the  valley  !"  inside, 
great  barrels  of  spirits  gayly  painted  and  disposed  for  show, 
carved  mahogany,  and  more  polished  brass,  with  men  and 
women,  smartly  dressed,  smiling  welcome  to  all  who  enter. 
The  doors  of  these  splendid  dens  are  carefully  hung  so  as 
to  fly  open  with  a  touch  and  shut  in  an  instant ;  whether 
for  the  convenience  of  those  dram-drinkers  who  are  ashamed 
of  their  taste,  or  to  give  to  the  concern  an  air  of  mystery, 
which  pleases  the  ignorant,  Messrs.  Thompson  and  Fcaron 
can  best  tell.     These  gentlemen,  who,  being  rich,  are  highly 
respectable,  keep  the  largest  gin-shop  in  England — in  the 
world.     It  is  situated  (I  mention  this  as  a  guide  to  Americans 
visiting  London)  on  Holborn  Hill,  near  to  Saffron  Hill ;  a 
quarter  in  which  Irish  wages  prevail  and  pawnbrokers 
abound.     Here  gin  is  served  by  young  women  dressed  up 
like  the  belle  limonadiere  of  a  Paris  coffee-house,  and  the 
establishment  in  all  its  parts  is  nearly  as  fine  as  Verey\s  or 
the  Cafe  de  Paris.     There  is  another  great  gin-shop,  not 
much  inferior  to  it,  a  little  further  to  the  west,  adjoining  the 
gate  of  Gray's  Inn ;   two  or  three  close  by  in  Chancery 
Lane;   and  twenty  or  thirty  not  far  off.     In  half  an  hour 
you  may  visit  a  hundred.     What  a  contrast  between  the 
finery  of  the  shops  and  the  beggarly  appearance  of  the 
customers  !     Among  these  are  few  really  old  people  ;  but 
then  plenty  of  the  young  people  appear  very  old.     Livid 
cheeks,  deep  wrinkles,  blood-shot  eyes,  brown  teeth,  or 
white  gums  without  teeth,  skin  and  bone,  snaking  hands, 
sore  legs,  creeping  palsy,  a  hacking  cough,  rags,  filth,  and 
stench  ;  these  are  marks  by  which  to  know  the  regular  gin- 
drinker.     Nine  out  of  ten  of  all  who  may  enter  the  finest 
gin-shop  in  Manchester  of  a  Sunday  morning,  will  show 
one  or  more  of  these  marks;  counting  women,  boys,  and 
girls,  as  well  as  men,  but  not  the  children,  who,  of  course, 
are  only  beginners.     In  some  great  towns  of  the  north,  they 
have  low  counters  and  small  glasses  on  purpose  for  the 
small  children  :  in  London  the  children  stand  on  tiptoe  to 
pay  for  half  a  glass  of  gin  ;  but  London  will  improve.     As 
to  gin-shops,  London  is  improving  most  rapidly,  both  in 
number  and  in  finery  ;  every  week,  almost  every  day,  pro- 
ducing a  new  gin-shop,  fitted  up  with  spring  doors,  plate- 
glass,  carved  mahogany  or  rose-wood,  and  polished  brass ; 

7 


50  MISERY    OF    THE    BULK   OP    THE    PEOPLE, 

all  more  "  elegant,"  as  they  say  in  America,  than  the  gin- 
shops  which  sprung  up  the  week  before.  But  the  quarter 
of  London  in  which  the  greatest  increase  of  fine  gin-shops 
has  lately  taken  place,  is  Spitalfields  and  its  neighbourhood. 
I  have  said  before,  that  the  silk  manufacture  of  Spitalfields 
is  perishing.  The  most  zealous  enemy  of  gin-shops  does 
not  pretend  that  the  increase  of  gin-shops  in  Spitalfields  has 
ruined  the  Spitalfields  manufacture  ;  but  the  ruin  of  the 
Spitalfields  manufacture  may  have  caused  the  increase  of 
gin-shops  in  Spitalfields.  This  is  my  humble  opinion, 
founded  on  the  considerations  which  follow. 

Generally,  a  man  understands  his  own  affairs  better  than 
other  people  understand  them  for  him.  The  common 
people  of  London  have  a  saying,  lately  adopted,  but  now 
proverbial — "  To  live,  be  a  pawnbroker,  or  keep  a  gin- 
shop."  Here  the  increase  of  gin-shops  is  explained  in  ten 
words.  Pawnbrokers  and  keepers  of  gin-shops  depend  on 
the  common  people  :  the  common  people  are  distressed,  that 
is,  they  find  it  hard  to  live  :  their  distress  drives  them,  first 
to  the  pawnbroker,  and  then  to  the  gin-shop  ;  they  pawn 
their  goods  to  purchase — what,  poison  ?  yes,  in  the  long 
run,  but  for  the  moment,  oblivion  of  their  misery.  Misery 
to  the  common  people  is  wealth  to  pawnbrokers  and 
keepers  of  gin-shops.  The  common  people  are  very  mis- 
erable, therefore  the  demand  for  gin  is  very  great ;  there- 
fore the  profits  of  selling  gin  are  very  high  ;  therefore  gin- 
shops  increase. 

This  conclusion  is  supported  by  some  who  take  pains  to 
know  the  sentiments  of  the  common  people,  and  who 
earnestly  advise  them  to  abstain  from  gin ;  I  mean  mem- 
bers of  the  Temperance  Societies,  Quakers  for  the  most 
part,  diligent  in  works  of  benevolence,  gentle,  patient,  per- 
severing, not  proud,  but  feeling  with  the  poor  as  well  as  for 
them.  These,  addressing  the  common  people  in  friendly 
and  common  language,  say — "  Believe  us,  it  is  a  mistake  to 
suppose  that  gin  will  keep  the  cold  out  of  your  stomach. 
The  more  gin  you  drink,  the  more  will  you  feel  cold  in 
your  stomach.  What  warms  you  to-day  will  not  have  that 
effect  a  month  hence:  hy-and-by,  in  order  to  feel  warm, 
you  must  double  the  quantity.  But  twice  the  quantity,  as 
IOOD  as  you  are  used  to  it,  will  not.  make  you  feel  warm. 
The  more  you  drink,  the  more  you  must  drink  in  order  to 
feel  warm.  At  last,  no  quantity  will  warm  you  ;  your 
stomach  will  be  destroyed,  and  you  will  die  of  drinking  gin 
to  keep  the  cold  out  of  your  stomach."     This  is  all  very 


MISERY    OF    TilE    BULK    OF    THE    PEOPLE.  51 

true  ;  and  it  shows  how  well  the  Quakers  understand  those 
feelings  of  the  common  people  which  lead  to  dram-drinking. 
Cold  in  the  stomach !  but  neither  the  Spitalfields  weavers, 
nor  their  friends  of  the  Temperance  Societies,  suppose  that 
cold  is  matter  which  enters  the  stomach.  Cold  in  the 
stomach  is  a  figurative  expression,  meaning  either  hunger 
or  despair,  or  both.  "  Sir,"  says  a  Spitalfields  weaver,  in 
reply  to  his  friendly  adviser,  "  all  that  you  say  is  true. 
The  more  gin  we  drink,  the  more  we  want ;  but  also  the 
less  we  drink  gin,  the  more  we  feel  the  want  of  something 
else.  Give  us  bread,  meat,  beer,  and  fire  ;  then  we  should 
feel  warm  without  gin.  I  am  not  begging:  we  are  all 
ready  to  work.  I  work,  God  knows,  morning,  noon,  and 
night :  work,  work,  work  ;  we  have  plenty  of  that.  If  we 
did  not  work  we  should  die  outright.  But  what  does  our 
work  bring  ?  work  and  hunger,  work  and  cold,  work  and 
sorrow.  I  get  about  fourteen  shillings  a  week,  out  of 
which  there's  rent  to  pay — we  can't  lie  in  the  street, — and 
clothes  to  find,  such  as  they  are, — but  we  must  be  covered  ; 
what  remains  for  fire  and  food  among  six  of  us,  four  chil- 
dren, their  mother,  and  me  ?  Enough  to  starve  upon,  and 
that  is  all.  The  children  cry  for  bread  ;  they  must  wait : 
their  mother  cries  because  they  cry  ;  she  is  sick  with  cry- 
ing and  what  not,  and  wants  some  tea ;  she  must  want.  In 
cold  weather  we  all  shiver  for  want  of  fire :  the  children 
and  their  mother  may  lie  in  bed  to  keep  themselves  warm  ; 
but  I,  hungry  and  cold,  must  work  on.  I  do  work ;  and 
when  I  drink  gin,  it  is  to  keep  myself  from  going  mad.  I 
allow  it — my  wife  drinks  gin  sometimes,  and  the  children, 
too,  poor  things,  now  and  then,  to  pacify  them.  If  you 
were  as  poor  as  we  are,  sir,  and  had  to  work  as  hard  as  I 
have,  without  hope,  you  would  be  apt  to  learn  that  gin  is 
bread,  and  meat,  and  fire,  and  hope,  all  in  one.  Without 
gin,  I  should  not  have  heart  to  work  ;  and  we  must  all  go  to 
the  poorhouse,  or  die,  for  the  poorhouse  is  choke  full,  and 
the  rates  are  not  paid.  We  say  cold  in  the  stomach ;  but 
we  mean  hunger  in  the  belly  and  despair  in  the  heart. 
Gin  cures  both  for  a  time  ;  but  it  kills,  you  say.  Well,  we 
can  but  die,  with  gin  or  without ;  and  life  such  as  ours, 
without  gin,  is  worse  than  death."  Just  so :  those  who 
frequent  gin-shops  best  know  why.  The  gin-shops  in 
Spitalfields  are  many  and  magnificent,  because  the  trade  of 
Spitalfields  is  going  to  ruin.  In  other  parts  of  London  the 
poverty  of  the  common  people  enriches  pawnbrokers  and 
keepers  of  gin-shops.     At  Manchester,  Bolton,  and  Black- 


52  MISERY    OF    THE    BILK    OF    THE    PEOPLE. 

burn,  the  cause  of  gin-shops  is  Irish  wages.  Verily,  the 
life  of  the  bulk  of  the  people' of  England  is  worse  than 
death. 

In  the  slave-states  of  America,  a  strong,  healthy  boy  or 
girl  is  worth  about  50/.  In  London,  on  the  gates  of  poor- 
houses,  one  reads — "  Strong,  healthy  boys  and  girls,  with 
the  usual  fee  :  apply  within."  With,  not  for,  the  usual  fee  : 
you  do  not  pay  the  fee  to  obtain  a  boy  or  girl ;  but  the 
parish  officers  pay  you  for  taking  one.  The  usual  fee  in 
London  is  10/.  ;  so  that  in  America  you  pay  five  times  as 
much  as  you  receive  in  England.  To  be  sure,  the  boys 
and  girls  in  London  are  neither  strong  nor  healthy  :  the 
notice  on  the  workhouse-gates  says  that  they  are  both,  to 
invite  customers,  just  as  the  keepers  of  gin-shops  placard 
their  windows  with  "  mountain  dew"  and  "  cream  of  the 
valley."  But  a  little,  a  very  little  care  and  kindness  would 
make"  the  English  children  as  strong  and  healthy  as  young 
negroes  in  America.  It  is  not,  therefore,  the  difference  of 
strength  which  causes  the  difference  of  value  between 
young  people  in  Kentucky  and  young  people  in  London ; 
nor  can  it  be  the  difference  of  colour :  on  the  contrary, 
one  might  suppose  that  a  white  boy  or  girl  would  be  worth 
more  than  a  black  one,  instead  of  being,  so  to  speak,  worth 
10/.  less  than  nothing. 

Ah,  but,  says  a  "respectable"  Englishman,  the  young 
Americans,  who  cost  50/.  each,  are  born  in  slavery ;  the 
others  are  free-born  English  children.  The  buyer  of  an 
American  child  can  do  what  he  likes  with  it :  the  English 
children  arc  merely  bound  apprentice  for  a  term  of  years, 
and  the  parish  pays  with  each  of  them  an  apprentice-fee, 
as  a  recompense  to  the  master  for  teaching  them  his  trade. 
The  magistrate  is  a  party  to  all  the  indentures  of  appren- 
ticeship; he  require  the  child's  consent;  he  cancels  the 
bond  if  the  child  is  ill-treated.  English  children  are  pro- 
tected by  our  glorious,  our  Inimitable  constitution,  which 
makes  no  difference  between  rich  and  poor:  it  is  absurd  to 

compare  English  apprentices  with  American  slaves. — I 
answer  :  it  is  the  whole  press  of  England,  not  I,  that  calls 
English  children  white  slaves;  hut,  not  to  dispute  about 
words,  let  us  come  t<>  facts.  h\  the  reign  of  George  III., 
One  Elizabeth  Brownrigg  was  hanged  for  beating  and 
starving  to  death  her  parish  apprentices.  About  three 
»,  another  woman,  Esther  Hibner  by  name,  was 
hanged  in  London  lor  beating  and  starving  to  death  a 
parish  apprentice.     In  both  these  cases,  the  constitution, 


MISERY    OF    TIIE    BULK    OF    THE    PEOPLE.  53 

the  law,  which  makes  no  difference  between  rich  and  poor, 
interfered  on  behalf  of  a  pauper-girl :  but  when  ?  not  before 
the  girl  was  murdered,  but  after.     Does  the  law  interfere 
to  prevent  the  murder  of  parish  apprentices  ? — this  is  the 
question.     The   evidence  in   the  case  of  Esther  Hibner 
proved,  that  a  number  of  girls,  pauper  apprentices,  were 
employed  in  a  workshop :  that  their  victuals  consisted  of 
garbage,  commonly  called  hog's  wash,  and  that  of  this  they 
never  had  enough  to  stay  the  pains  of  hunger ;  that  they 
were  kept  half-naked,  half-clothed  in  dirty  rags  ;  that  they 
slept  in  a  heap,  on  the  floor,  amid  filth  and  stench ;  that 
they  suffered  dreadfully  from  cold  ;  that  they  were  forced 
to  work  so  many  hours  together  that  they  used  to  fall  asleep 
while  at  work  ;  that  for  falling  asleep,  for  not  working  as 
hard  as   their  mistress  wished,   they   were   beaten  with 
sticks,  with  fists,  dragged  by  the  hair,  dashed  on  to  the 
ground,  trampled  upon,  and  otherwise  tortured ;  that  they 
were  found,  all  of  them  more  or  less,  covered  with  chil- 
blains, scurvy,  bruises,  and  wounds;  that  one  of  them  died 
of  ill-treatment;  and — mark  this, — that  the  discovery  of 
that  murder  was  made  in  consequence  of  the  number  of 
coffins  which  had  issued  from  Esther  Hibner's  premises, 
and  raised  the  curiosity  of  her  neighbours.     For  this  mur- 
der Mrs.  Hibner  was  hanged  ;  but  what  did  she  get  for  all 
the  other  murders  which,  referring  to  the  number  of  coffins, 
we  have  a  right  to  believe  that  she  committed  ?     She  got 
for  each  107.     That  is  to  say,  whenever  she  had  worked, 
starved,  beaten,  dashed,  and  trampled  a  girl  to  death,  she 
got  another  girl  to  treat  in  the  same  way,  with  10/.  for  her 
trouble.     She  carried  on  a  trade  in  the  murder  of  parish 
apprentices  ;  and  if  she  had  conducted  it  with  moderation, 
if  the  profit  and  custom  of  murder  had  not  made  her  grasp- 
ing and  careless,  the  constitution,  which  protects  the  poor 
as  well  as  the  rich,  would  never  have  interfered  with  her. 
The  law  did  not  permit  her  to  do  what  she  liked  with  her 
apprentices  as  Americans  do  with  their  slaves  ;    oh  no. 
Those  free-born  English  children  were  merely  bound  as 
apprentices,  with  their  own  consent,  under  the  eye  of  the 
magistrate,  in  order  that  they  might  learn  a  trade  and  be- 
come valuable  subjects.     But  did  the  magistrate  ever  visit 
Mrs.  Hibner's  factory  to  see  how  she  treated  the  free-born 
Englis  hgirls  ?  never.     Did  the  parish  officers  ?  no.     Was 
there  any  legal  provision  for  the  discovery  of  the  woman's 
trade  in  murder  ?  none.     That  woman  has  not  traded  in 
murder  during  the  last  three  years ;  but  why  not  ?  because 


54  MISERY    OF    THE    BULK    OF    THE    PEOPLE. 

she  was  hanged  three  years  ago :  but  what  hanged  her  ? 
the  glorious  constitution,  or  the  number  of  coffins?  Plainly, 
the  number  of  coffins ;  that  is,  the  impunity,  the  security 
with  which  she  had  murdered  ;  the  forlorn  state  of  her  ap- 
prentices ;  the  utter  neglect  of  them  by  parish  officers, 
magistrates,  laws,  and  constitution. 

Since  Mrs.  Hibner  was  hanged,  the  inimitable  constitution 
has  been  greatly  altered,  but  not  with  respect  to  parish  appren- 
tices. You  still  read  on  the  gates  of  London  poor-houses, 
"  strong,  healthy  boys  and  girls,  &c. ;"  and  boys  or  girls 
you  may  obtain  by  applying  within,  as  many  as  you  please, 
free-born,  with  the  usual  fee.  Having  been  paid  for  taking 
them,  and  having  gone  through  the  ceremonies  of  asking 
their  consent  and  signing  bonds  before  a  magistrate,  you 
may  make  them  into  sausages,  for  any  thing  the  constitu- 
tion will  do  to  prevent  you.  If  it  should  be  proved  that 
you  kill  even  one  of  them,  you  will  be  hanged :  but  you 
may  half-starve  them,  beat  them,  torture  them,  any  thing 
short  of  killing  them,  with  perfect  security ;  and  using  a 
little  circumspection,  you  may  kill  them  too  without  much 
danger.  Suppose  they  die,  who  cares?  their  parents  ?  they 
are  orphans,  or  have  been  abandoned  by  their  parents. 
The  parish-officers  ?  very  likely  indeed,  that  these,  when 
the  poor-house  is  crammed  with  orphan  and  destitute  chil- 
dren, should  make  inquiries  troublesome  to  themselves ; 
inquires  which,  being  troublesome  to  you,  might  deprive 
them  of  your  custom  in  future.  The  magistrate?  he  asked 
the  child  whether  it  consented  to  be  your  apprentice  ;  the 
child  said  "  yes,  your  worship ;"  and  there  his  worship's 
duty  ends.  The  neighbours  ?  of  course,  if  you  raise  their 
curiosity  like  Esther  Hibner,  but  not  otherwise.  In  order 
to  be  quite  safe,  I  tell  you,  you  must  be  a  little  circumspect. 
But  let  us  suppose  that  you  are  timid,  and  would  drive  a 
good  trade  without  the  shadow  of  risk.  In  that  case,  half- 
starve  your  apprentices,  cull'  them,  kick  them,  torment 
them  till  they  run  away  from  you.  They  will  not  go  back 
to  the  poor-house,  because  there  they  would  be  Hogged  for 
having  run  away  from  you  :  besides  the  poor-house  is  any 
thing  but  a  pleasant  place.  The  boys  will  turn  beggars  or 
thieves,  and  tin,'  girls  prostitutes:  you  will  have  pocketed 
10/.  for  each  of  them,  and  may  get  more  hoys  and  girls  on 
the  name  terms,  to  treat  in  the  same  way.  This  trade  is  as 
safe  as  it.  is  profitable. 

In  Bngland  there  are  many  charitable  institutions  for 
assisting  orphan  and  destitute  children.     One  of  them,  at 


MISERY    OP    THE    BULK    OF    THE    PEOPLE.  55 

the  head  of  which  I  observe  the  name  of  Lord  Grosvenor, 
informs  the  public  that  London  contains,  at  all  times,  15,000 
orphan  or  destitute  children,  houseless,  prowling  about 
the  streets,  and  supported  by  begging  or  robbing.  By  dint 
of  zeal,  advertisements,  and  public  meetings,  this  society 
has,  I  believe,  found  means  to  provide  for  20  of  these  chil- 
dren. Of  the  14,980  which  remain,  how  many  are  run- 
away parish  apprentices  1  A  committee  of  parliament  might 
easily  learn;  but  parliament  represents  only  the  payers  of 
poor-rates,  to  whom  an  exposure  of  the  truth  would  not 
be  agreeable.  Great  things,  however,  are  expected  of  the 
reformed  House  of  Commons.  Should  they  wish  for  infor- 
mation on  this  subject,  I  hereby  undertake  to  put  them  in 
the  way  of  learning,  for  certain,  that  one-fourth,  at  least,  of 
the  boys  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  who  pass  through  the 
prisons  of  London,  are  run-away  parish  apprentices. 

The  American  reader  must  not  suppose  that  London  is 
the  only  place  in  England  where  free-born  boys  and  girls 
may  be  obtained  with  the  usual  fee  of  10/.  for  each.  In 
all  great  towns  the  parishes  get  rid  of  destitute  children  in 
this  manner  ;  and  in  most  of  them  the  usual  fee  is  10/.  for 
each  child.  In  rural  parishes  the  usual  fee  is  from  5/.  to  7/. ; 
a  difference  explained  by  the  smaller  proportion  which  in 
rural  parishes  destitute  children  bear  to  the  rates,  whence 
less  anxiety  on  the  rJart  of  the  rural  overseer  to  get  rid  of 
destitute  children. 

In  all  England  there  cannot  be  less  than  five  millions  of 
chimneys.  Suppose  that  on  the  average  each  chimney  is 
swept  twice  a  year,  and  that  a  fifth  of  the  whole  number 
are  swept  by  machinery.  If  so,  something  like  what  I  am 
going  to  describe  occurs  eight  million  times  every  year  in 
England.  A  chimney  requires  to  be  swept,  and  the  master 
sweep  attends,  with  a  little  boy.  He  fastens  a  blanket 
across  the  fireplace  to  prevent  any  soot  from  falling  into 
the  room.  Now  watch  the  child.  Trembling,  he  draws  a 
black  bag  over  his  head  and  shoulders  ;  the  master  grasps 
him  by  the  arm  and  guides  him  to  the  fireplace  :  he  dis- 
appears up  the  chimney.  Now  watch  the  master.  He  is 
motionless,  his  head  on  one  side,  listening  attentively.  Ask 
him  a  question :  "  hush"  is  the  answer,  with  his  finger  on 
his  lips.  Presently  a  low,  indistinct  moaning  is  heard  in 
the  chimney.  "VVilliam,"  says  the  master,  putting  his 
mouth  to  the  edge  of  the  fireplace,  and  speaking  in  a  brisk, 
cheerful  tone,  "that's  right,  VVilliam."  Another  moan:  and 
then  "  I  say,  William — brush  it  well  out,  I  say."  Down  comes 


50  MISERY    OF    TIIE    BULK    OF    THE    FEOFLE. 

a  quantity  of  soot,  and  the  child  is  heard  scraping  the  sides  of 
the  chimney.  Presently,  silence  ;  and  then  moaning  again. 
"  William,"  exclaimed  the  master,  "  I  say,  Bill,  you've  al- 
most done,  ha'nt  you?"  No  answer;  the  child's  head  being, 
remember,  in  a  thick  bag :  but  the  brush  is  heard  once 
more,  and  the  master  holds  his  tongue.  Silence  again ; 
and  the  moan  of  the  child  returns.  This  time  the  master 
shouts — "  Bill,  Bill,  I  say,  Billy,  how  do  you  get  on  ;"  and  so 
till  the  end  of  the  work :  whenever  the  child  cries,  or  is 
silent,  his  master  shouts  to  him,  "  Billy,  I  say,  Billy,  my  lad." 
This  is  a  mild  case,  without  oaths,  threats,  or  blows.  Ask 
the  master  why  he  tormented  the  half-smothered  boy  by 
speaking  to  him  while  his  head  was  in  the  bag  up  the 
chimney :  he  will  say,  "  for  no  reason  that  I  know  of." 
Believing  this  answer  to  be  false,  you  press  for  another, 
when  the  master  says,  "  We  always  speak  to  'em  when 
they're  up  the  chimney,  for  fear  they  should  run  sulky  and 
stick."  Run  sulky  and  stick  !  droop,  faint,  and  die  of  suf- 
focation. Examine  the  boy  when  he  comes  from  the  chim- 
ney. If  his  knees  and  elbows  are  not  raw  and  bloody,  they 
are  covered  with  horn  like  the  knees  of  the  mountain  goat ; 
his  face,  neck,  and  breast  are  wet  with  the  water  that 
flowed  from  his  eyes,  which  are  red  with  inflammation;  the 
veins  of  his  temples  are  swoln  into  cords ;  and  his  pulse  is 
at  high  fever  mark.     In  a  word,  he  hak  been  tortured. 

Every  climbing-boy  suffers  great  pain  every  time  he 
mounts  a  chimney  ;  and  a  good  half  of  the  climbing-boys 
in  England  are  parish  apprentices,  free-born,  consenting, 
recognised  "by  the  constitution,  engaged  in  learning  a  trade 
which,  as  men,  they  could  not  follow,  if  by  chance  they 
should  grow  to  be  men.  Of  those  parish  apprentices  who 
become  thieves,  a  great  many  have  first  been  climbing-boys, 
tortured  several  times  a  day  as  long  as  they  would  bear  it. 
This,  also,  with  the  power  to  examine  unwilling  witnesses, 
might  be  abundantly  proved. 

In  England,  any  one  who  belongs  to  the  ruling  class  may 
be  irreligious  and  immoral  without  so  much  punishment  as 
disgrace.  The  titled  concubines  of  royalty  have  been  envied 
by  numbers  of  their  sex,  and  honoured  when  they  appeared 
in  public;  a  lord  high-chancellor,  who  keeps  the  king's  con- 
science, may  also  keep  ;i  mistress,  or  more  than  one,  with- 
out incurring  the  slightest  odium  ;  any  man  of  fortune  may 
change  from  prostitute  to  prostitute  without  forfeiting  any  of 
the  high  respect  which  is  paid  to  him  as  a  man  of  fortune: 


MISERY    OF    THE    BULK    OF    THE    PEOPLE.  57 

no  one,  in  short,  suffers  any  thing  by  encouraging  prostitution, 
provided  he  can  afford  the  expense.  Women, on  thecontrary, 
whose  poverty  drives  them  to  sin  against  religion  and 
morality — prostitutes  for  bread — are  regarded  with  that 
sort  of  scorn  which  a  Turk  expresses  when  he  says — "  dog 
of  a  Christian  !"  The  English  show  profound  respect  for 
their  devil,  in  comparison  with  the  way  in  which  they  treat 
their  women  of  the  town.  For  these,  such  epithets  as 
wicked,  vile,  nasty,  such  terms  as  slut,  strumpet,  wretch, 
are  too  good:  you  must  not  mention  them  at  all  in  public, 
and  you  cannot  allude  to  them  in  a  book  without  staining 
your  pages.  Recommend  that  they  should  be  treated  like 
fellow-creatures,  as  in  the  Netherlands  :  if  you  are  not 
prosecuted  for  blasphemy,  many  will  say  that  you  deserve 
to  be  hanged.  In  America  or  Holland,  if  you  strike  a 
woman  of  this  class,  she  will  take  the  law  of  you:  in  Eng- 
land, her  evidence  might  be  rejected,  or  at  all  events  would 
not  be  believed.  "Gentlemen  of  the  jury,"  the  counsel  of 
the  accused  would  say,  "  this  charge  rests  on  the  evidence 
of  a  common"  (meaning  poor)  "  prostitute  :  faugh  !  my  res — 
pec — table"  rich)  "  client  is  already  acquitted."  I  do  not 
pretend  that  such  a  speech  was  ever  made,  but  assert,  ad- 
mitting the  hypothesis  to  be  absurd,  that  if,  by  chance,  a 
respectable  Englishman  were  prosecuted  for  assaulting  a 
woman  of  the  town,  then  this  would  be  the  way  to  get  him 
acquitted.  The  English  constitution  recognises  parish 
apprentices,  but  not  poor  prostitutes.  Prostitution  is  one 
thing  ;  the  prostitutes  another.  The  laws  and  customs  of 
England  encourage  prostitution,  but  do  not  even  protect  the 
prostitutes.  At  the  royal  theatres,  for  instance,  which  are 
managed  by  the  king's  servants,  there  are  grand  saloons, 
built  expressly  for  the  encouragement  of  prostitution  :  but  I 
cannot  hear  of  any  law  or  regulation,  like  those  which  sub- 
sist in  France  and  Holland,  intended  to  provide  for  the 
health,  the  personal  security,  and  the  decent  behaviour  of 
this  unfortunate  class.  The  laws  and  customs  of  England 
conspire  to  sink  this  class  of  Englishwomen  into  a  state  of 
vice  and  misery  below  that  which  necessarily  belongs  to 
their  condition.  Hence  their  extreme  degradation,  their 
troopers'  oaths,  their  love  of  gin,  their  desperate  reckless- 
ness, and  the  shortness  of  their  miserable  lives. 

But  how,  considering  the  very  great  mortality  to  which 
they  are  subject,  shall  we  account  for  their  vast  numerical 
proportion  to  the  other  inhabitants  of  England  ?  In  France, 
and  more  especially  in  Holland,  women  of  the  town  are 

8 


58  MISERY    OF    THE    BULK    OF    THE    PEOPLE. 

frequently  reformed,  married,  and  respected  in  their  new 
condition.  In  England,  where  the  mere  idea  of  a  reclaimed 
prostitute,  married  and  respected,  would  shock  the  least 
fastidious,  prostitution  means  speedy  death.  English  women 
of  this  class,  or  rather  girls,  for  few  of  them  live  to  be 
women,  die  like  sheep  with  the  rot ;  so  fast  that  soon  there 
would  be  none  left,  if  a  fresh  supply  were  not  obtained 
equal  to  the  number  of  deaths.  But  a  fresh  supply  is 
always  obtained  without  the  least  trouble  :  seduction  easily 
keeps  pace  with  prostitution  or  mortality.  Those  who  die 
are,  like  factory  children  that  die,  instantly  succeeded  by 
new  competitors  for  misery  and  death.  One  cannot  prove, 
indeed,  by  statistical  tables,  that  the  proportion  of  girls  of 
the  town  is  greater  in  England  than  in  other  countries,  be- 
cause in  England  any  deliberate  inquiry  concerning  this 
class  would  be  considered  shameful ;  nor  are  statistical 
tables  required  :  the  fact  speaks  for  itself,  is  proved  by  the 
swarms  of  prostitutes  to  be  met  with  in  every  town,  and 
in  every  quarter  of  the  great  towns.  To  prove  this,  statis- 
tical tables  are  not  more  necessary  than  to  establish,  what 
no  one  denies,  that  in  England  there  are  more  splendid 
mansions  and  gin-shops  than  in  any  other  country.  But 
the  cause ;  what  is  the  cause  of  this  excessive  number  of 
prostitutes,  notwithstanding  so  wonderful  a  rate  of  mor- 
tality? 

One  cause  of  this  evil  is,  of  course,  an  excessive  demand 
for  prostitutes.  That  demand  is  occasioned  principally  by 
a  custom  now  prevalent  among  the  English  middle  classes  ; 
the  custom  of  abstaining  from  marriage,  the  custom  of 
celibacy,  vulgarly  speaking  ;  of  "  moral  restraint,"  in  the 
language  of  political  economy.  This  cause  is  explained  in 
the  next  note:  the  other  causes,  the  inducements  to  a  life 
of  prostitution,  are  explained  by  the  following  story. 

Some  out-of-the-way  people  founded  a  refuge  for  prosti- 
tutes; a  charity  of  which  the  object  was  to  reclaim  a  small 
number  of  public  women.  One  day  a  girl  applied  for  ad- 
mission to  this  retreat,  saying,  "Iain  out  of  work,  cold, 
hungry,  tired,  houseless,  and  anxious  to  be  saved  from  evil 
courses."  She  was  dismissed,  not  being  qualified ;  so  the 
story  goes.  This  story  may  not  be  true  ;  but  most  Eng- 
lishmen have  laughed  at  it  in  private.  The  story  passes 
lor  a  good  joke;  and  its  currency  proves  two  things;  first, 
thai  the  few  English  with  bowels  of  compassion  for  prosti- 
tutes are  ridiculed  as  eccentric;  and  next,  thai  the  English 
themselves  consider  povert)  the  main  inducement  t<>  a  life 
of  prostitution.      In   America,  where   no  class    practises 


MISERY    OF    THE    BULK    OP    THE    PEOPLE.  69 

"  moral  restraint,"  the  demand  for  women  of  the  town  is 
very  small,  and,  such  as  it  is,  arises  principally  from  the 
sojourn  of  foreigners  in  seaport  towns ;  but  if  that  demand 
were  doubled  by  a  sufficient  increase  of  foreign  visiters,  it 
would  not  be  supplied ;  because  in  America  every  girl  can 
readily  obtain  an  honest  livelihood.  In  America,  you  may 
travel  a  thousand  miles,  taking  the  towns  in  your  way,  and 
not  meet  a  prostitute :  in  England,  you  cannot  walk  a  mile 
upon  pavement  without  meeting  hundreds.  In  America,  it 
is  as  difficult  for  householders  to  get  women-servants,  as  in 
England  for  women-servants  to  get  places.  In  America, 
prostitution  is  a  choice  seldom  made ;  to  English  women, 
thousands  every  year, — it  is  a  dire  necessity.  In  order  to 
reclaim  the  prostitutes  of  England,  you  must  first  find  em- 
ployment for  them,  which  would  be  the  harder  task  of  the 
two ;  and  when  this  was  done,  there  would  be  as  many  as 
before.  Not  vice  and  misery,  Mr.  Malthus,  but  misery  and 
vice  is  the  order  of  checks  to  population.  Charity,  virtue, 
happiness !  these  are  English  words  stili,  but  the  meaning 
of  them  appears  to  have  settled  in  America.  I  wonder  that 
emigration  is  not  more  the  fashion,  and  wish  that  Mrs. 
Trollope  would  write  a  book  on  the  domestic  manners  of 
the  English. 

In  England,  the  increase  of  crime  is  a  common  subject 
of  lamentation.  About  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  of 
the  people,  it  is  reckoned,  are  always  in  jail ;  besides  con- 
victs, transported  to  comfort  by  way  of  punishment,  and 
debtors  looking  through  prison-bars  for  the  means  of  paying 
their  creditors.  In  England,  the  increase  of  fine  jails  is 
nearly  as  striking  as  the  increase  of  gin-shops.  The  new 
jails,  one  in  every  county,  and  in  some  counties  several, 
would  be  thought  grand  in  America  ;  noble  buildings  of 
beautiful  brick-work  or  handsome  masonry,  with  imposing 
fronts,  bearing  chains,  emblematical,  carved  in  stone.  In 
Lancashire  the  magistrates  boast,  that  their  county  jail  is 
very  like  Windsor  Castle,  the  finest  of  palaces.  The  in- 
crease of  fine  lunatic  asylums,  also,  may  be  noticed  here; 
since  it  has  been  lately  ascertained  that  there  are  more  mad 
paupers,  in  proportion,  than  mad  people  of  any  other  class, 
except  governesses.  Poor-houses,  gin-shops,  mad-houses, 
jails  ;  one  almost  sees  them  grow  in  numbers  and  magnifi- 
cence, with  the  increase  of  paupers,  parish-apprentices, 
drunkenness,  and  crime.  In  England,  those  who  compose 
the  bulk  of  the  people  are  too  cheap  to  be  happy.  If  their 
condition  be  such  that  it  must  be  worse  before  it  can  be 
better,  the  crisis  is  coming. 


(60) 


NOTE  III. 

UNEASINESS    OF   THE    MIDDLE    CLASS. 

Who  compose  the  aristocracy — Particular  distresses  of  the  middle  class — 
Uneasiness  of  fanners — Of  manufacturers — Of  dealers — Low  profits — 
Uneasiness  of  professional  men — Of  several  classes  possessing  the  com- 
mon run  of  knowledge,  or  superior  knowledge — Of  persons  having  fixed 
incomes  and  families — Primary  cause  of  prostitution — Domestic  life 
among  the  English  middle  class. 

In  America,  it  is  a  common  mistake  to  suppose,  that  the 
English  aristocracy  consists  entirely  of  the  nobility,  squires 
of  good  estate,  wealthy  churchmen,  and  highly-paid  public 
servants.  The  aristocracy  means  the  privileged  class. 
Except  the  privilege  of  being  born  to  make  laws,  there  is 
none  in  England  that  money  will  fail  to  procure  ;  and  even 
that  one,  any  man,  having  abundance  of  money,  may  obtain 
for  his  unborn,  first-born  son.  A  judge,  a  bishop,  or  a  sec- 
retary of  state,  does  not  consider  the  trouble  of  his  vocation 
a  privilege ;  his  privileges  consist  of  money,  patronage, 
power;  the  respect,  the  adulation,  the  devotion  of  his  infe- 
riors. In  England,  with  plenty  of  the  first  of  these  privi- 
leges, you  have  all  the  others  in  abundance.  Any  English- 
man, being  very  rich,  would  find  it  hard,  if  such  a  whim 
should  take  him,  to  avoid  the  respect,  the  adulation,  the  de- 
votion of  numerous  parasites.  Not  the  man,  but  the  wealth 
is  worshipped.  The  man  may  be  ignorant,  stupid,  selfish, 
dishonest,  in  every  way  worthless ;  but  if  he  have  £50,000  a 
year,  he  will  have  fifty,  nay,  five  bundled  devoted  friends,  tell- 
ing him  continually  that  he  is  wise,  just,  generous,  all  over 
noble.  Poor  lords,  though  of  Norman  descent,  arc  very  little 
esteemed,  and  would  be  quite  despised,  but  that  as  heredi- 
tary legislators  they  commonly  obtain  a  good  deal  of  the 
public  money.  The  money  is  given  to  them  avowedly  for 
the  purpose  of  maintaining  their  dignity.  On  the  other 
hancf,  money  will  purchase  the  reputation  of  Norman  de- 
scent. Mr.  Thistlethwaite,  whose  father  wore  wooden 
shoes  and  made  a  million  by  cotton-spinning;  Mr.  Thistle- 
thwaite,  who  has  purchased  o  mansion  called  Thistlethwaite 
Hall,  intends,  when  he  obtains  a  peerage,  to  take  the  title 
of  Tbiitlethwaite  and  Vermont  (his  mother's  name  was 


UNEASINESS    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS.  61 

Greenhill),  in  order  to  make  it  be  believed  that  he  descends 
in  the  female  line  from  the  Norman  lords  of  Vermont :  and 
this  will  be  believed,  religiously,  on   account  of  the  million 
of  money.     In  short,  there  is  nothing  that  the  English  will 
not  do  to  please  him  who  can  dispose  of  a  great  deal  of 
money,  either  his  own  or  that  of  the  public.     All  rich  Eng- 
lishmen, therefore,  belong  to  the  aristocracy  quite  as  much 
as  any  duke,  minister,  or  archbishop;  not  excluding  trades- 
men, provided  they  be  called  great,  like  Calvert  the  great 
brewer,  Baring  the  great  stockjobber,  Crawshay  the  great 
iron-founder,  Mellish  the  great  butcher,  and  Morrison  the 
great  draper.     Still,  one  cannot  draw  a  very  distinct  line 
between  the  aristocracy  and  the  class  next  below  them.     1 
thought  at  one  time  of  counting  among  the  aristocracy  all 
who  are  called  respectable  ;  but  respectability  has  various 
meanings  in  England ;  with  some  it  means  to  keep  a  car- 
riage, with  others  a  gig.     I  have  it — the   privileged  class 
consists  of    those  who,  whenever   they  are  .wronged,  or 
would  injure,  can  buy  law  without  depriving  themselves  of 
any  other  costly  luxury  ;  those,  in  short,  who,  be  their  rank 
what  it  may,  have  more  money  than  they  know  how  to 
spend.     Captain  Basil  Halt  calls  them  the  spending  class. 
After  these  comes  the  middle  or  uneasy  class.     Uneasi- 
ness, according  to  Johnson,  is  care,  trouble,  perplexity. 
By  the  uneasy  class,  I  mean  those  who,  not  being  labourers, 
suffer  from  agricultural   distress,  manufacturing  distress, 
commercial   distress,  distress  of  the  shipping  interest,  and 
many  more  kinds  of  distress,  of  which  the  names  and  de- 
scriptions have  appeared  over  and  over  again  during  the 
last  fifteen  years,  in  the  journals  of  parliament,  in  pamphlets 
without  number,  and  in  all  political  publications,  quarterly, 
monthly,  weekly,  and  daily.     In  English  politics,  the  word 
distress  is  used  more  frequently  than  any  other  comprehen- 
sive word,  except  pauperism.     Distress,  applied  to  any 
particular  class,  signifies  the  trouble,  care,  perplexity  of  that 
class,  but  not  that  the  trouble,  care,  and  perplexity  are 
unequal,  or  confined  to  any  one  set  of  people  ;  for  each  dis- 
tress has  lasted  fifteen  years,  and  all  the  distresses  together 
make  permanent  general  distress.     This  steady  national 
distress  is  attributed  to  causes  more  numerous  than  the 
several  distresses  of  which  it  is  composed  ;   to  transition 
from  war  to  peace ;  to  the  admission  of  foreign  corn  ;  to 
restrictions  on  the  admission  of  foreign  corn  ;  to  taxation  ; 
to  diminution  of  the  public  expenditure  ;  to  inadequate  pro- 
duction ;  to  over-production  ;  to  change  in  the  currency ; 


62  UNEASINESS    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS. 

to  free  trade,  and  restrictions  on  trade  ;  to  political  economy, 
and  the  blunders  of  practical  men  ;  and,  finally,  to  rotten 
boroughs.  For  an  evil  attributed  to  so  many  causes,  it  was 
natural  that  numerous  methods  of  cure  should  be  proposed. 
Accordingly,  the  business  of  English  politicians,  for  about 
fifteen  years,  has  been  to  devise  remedies  for  general  dis- 
tress or  particular  distresses.  Some  of  these  specifics  will 
be  noticed  hereafter,  and  especially  reform  of  parliament, 
from  which  the  uneasy  class  expect  the  most  happy  results  ; 
but  here  the  many  alleged  causes,  and  supposed  remedies 
of  distress  are  alluded  to,  merely  with  a  view  to  show  that 
the  distress  itself  is  real,  extensive,  severe,  not  imaginary, 
as  some  of  the  spending  class  assert,  nor  confined,  as  in 
former  periods,  to  the  idle  and  thriftless.  In  fact,  the  uneasy 
class  consists  of  three-fourths,  or  rather  perhaps  nine-tenths, 
of  all  who  are  engaged  in  trades  and  professions,  as  well 
as  all  who,  not  being  very  rich,  intend  that  their  children 
should  follow  some  industrious  pursuit.  The  proof  of  this 
assertion  is  very  easy. 

t  There  are  some  English  farmers,  though  but  few,  so  rich 
as  to  be  called  great ;  and  these  do  not  belong  to  the  uneasy 
class.  Even  these,  however,  complain  of  low  profits.  But 
if  he  whose  farming  capital  is,  say,  30,000/.,  grumbles 
because  his  annual  profit  is  only  two  and  a-half  per  cent, 
or  750/.,  what  must  be  the  state  of  that  farmer  whose 
capital  is  only  5,000/.  ?  Supposing  his  profits  to  be  equal  to 
those  of  the  great  farmer,  his  annual  income  is  only  125/. ; 
not  so  much,  allowing  for  the  difference  of  prices,  as  the 
income  of  a  common  labourer  in  America.  Anywhere  in 
America,  a  farming  capital  of  5,000/.  would  return  a  profit 
of  fifteen  per  cent. ;  so  that  taking  the  common  rate  of 
farming  profit  in  England  to  lie  two  and  a-half  per  cent., 
the  American  farmer  possessing  5,000/.  enjoys  an  income 
equal  to  that  of  the  English  farmer  possessing  30,000/. 
But  the  common  rate  of  farming  profit  in  England,  during 
the  last  fifteen  years,  has  not  been  so  much  as  two  and  a 
hull  per  cent.:  on  the  contrary,  the  rule  of  loss  has  been 
considerable.  Impossible  !  cries  a  bigoted  political  econo- 
mist ;  that  is  impossible,  because  if  farming  profits  had 
sunk  very  low,  capital  would  have  been  withdrawn  from 
agriculture,  and  employed  in  other  pursuits  of  which  the 
profits  were  higher.  But  what  if  the  profits  of  other  pur- 
suits were  not  higher  1  Political  economists  frequently 
suppose  the  ease  of  low  profits  in  a  particular  trade  : 
surely,  what  takes  place  in  one  trade,  may  take  place  in  all. 


UNEASINESS    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS.  G3 

But  be  this  as  it  may,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  England, 
of  late  years,  many  farmers  have  employed  capital  with  a 
high  rate  of  loss.  Hundreds,  thousands  have  lost  their 
whole  capital,  while  all,  with  the  exception  of  those  whose 
capital  were  so  large  that  they  could  save  out  of  very  low 
profits,  have  lost  more  or  less.  The  number  of  farmers,  it 
might  be  supposed,  has  been  diminished  by  the  total  or 
partial  ruin  of  so  many  :  not  at  all.  A  farmer  was  ruined  ; 
had  the  landlord  any  difficulty  in  letting  his  farm  ?  On  the 
contrary,  the  ruin  of  a  farmer  has  generally  occasioned 
wonder  at  the  anxiety  of  other  farmers  to  pay  as  high  or  a 
higher  rent  for  the  ruinous  farm.  Except  during  a  few 
years  before  the  close  of  the  last  war,  the  competition  for 
English  farms  was  never  more  keen  than  it  has  been  during 
the  long  period  of  agricultural  distress.  There  are  very 
many  farms  which  have  ruined  two  or  three  tenants  since 
1815.  No  one  pretends  that  the  rent  of  farming  land  is 
lower ;  every  one  knows  that  it  is  much  higher,  reckoned  in 
corn  or  cattle,  than  at  any  former  time,  except  just  before 
the  peace  ;  and  at  this  time  high  rents  are,  by  some,  sup- 
posed to  be  the  cause,  or  at  least  one  cause,  of  agricultural 
distress.  The  distress  continues  without  diminishing  the 
number  of  people  who  are  distressed.  As  one  farmer  is 
ruined,  another  takes  his  place  ;  but  the  change  of  persons, 
as  with  children  who  are  worked  to  death  in  factories, 
makes  no  alteration  in  the  scene.  I  do  not  say,  that  all  the 
farmers,  or  all  farmers  who  begin  with  moderate  capitals, 
are  ruined  in  a  few  years,  and  succeeded  by  others  to  be 
ruined  in  like  manner  ;  but  every  year  sees  the  ruin  of 
many  farmers  of  moderate  capital,  whose  places  are  in- 
stantly filled  ;  and  all  farmers,  except  only  those  who  have 
very  large  capitals,  are  constantly  on  the  verge  of  ruin ;  in 
a  state  of  care,  trouble,  and  perplexity. 

As  in  agriculture,  so  in  manufactures  ;  with  this  differ- 
ence, however,  that  the  proportion  of  great  capitals  to 
moderate  or  small  ones  being  much  larger  in  manufactures 
than  in  agriculture,  the  proportion  of  manufacturers  who 
suffer  trouble  and  perplexity  is  much  less  than  among 
farmers.  There  are  many  manufacturers,  each  of  whom 
employs  a  capital  of  more  than  100,000/.  These  might  be 
content  with  a  low  rate  of  profit  ;  they  are  discontented, 
but  they  are  not  care-worn,  troubled,  and  perplexed,  like 
those  smaller  capitalists,  to  whom  a  low  rate  of  profit 
brings  ruin,  or,  at  least,  the  constant  dread,  of  ruin.  The 
number  of  manufacturers  who  have  been  ruined  since  the 


64  UNEASINESS    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS. 

peace,  is  perhaps  as  great  as  the  number  of  farmers  who 
have  been  ruined  in  the  same  period.  But  has  the  amount 
of  capital  employed  in  manufactures  decreased  ?  On  the 
contrary,  it  has  increased  rapidly  and  steadily  ever  since 
the  peace.  Has  the  number  of  master-manufacturers  de- 
creased ?  On  the  contrary,  it  has  increased,  though  in  a  less 
proportion  than  manufacturing  capital ;  this  difference  being 
explained  by  the  constantly  increasing  proportion  of  large 
capitals  to  moderate  or  small  ones.  In  other  words,  suppo- 
sing the  whole  number  of  master-manufacturers  to  have  been 
doubled,  the  number  of  those,  each  of  whom  employs  above 
100.000/.,  may  have  been  quadrupled.  But  how  could  this 
be,  with  a  constant  and  universal  low  rate  of  profit?  I 
have  endeavoured  to  answer  that  question  in  the  next  note. 
Here  it  must  be  admitted,  that  ever  since  the  peace,  the 
common  rate  of  profit  in  English  manufactures  has  been 
extremely  low  ;  that  a  great  deal  of  capital  has  been 
employed  with  loss  instead  of  profit;  that  many  of  the 
owners  of  capital  so  employed  have  been  ruined ;  and  that 
at  this  time  a  very  low  rate  of  profit  condemns  all  manu- 
facturers of  small  or  moderate  capital  to  uneasiness, 
trouble,  and  perplexity.  Great  manufacturers,  who  possess 
immense  capitals,  must  not  be  counted  among  the  uneasy 
class. 

In  the  commerce  of  England,  since  the  peace,  a  low  rate 
of  profit  has  produced  the  same  effect  as  in  agriculture  and 
manufactures.  Great  merchants,  merchants  who  employed 
very  large  capitals,  have  complained  of  very  low  profits, 
and  frequently  of  loss ;  an  immense  number  of  merchants, 
having  only  small  or  moderate  capitals,  have  been  ruined  ; 
and  all  owners  of  moderate  or  small  capitals  employed  to 
commerce  are  in  a  state  of  uneasiness.  In  commerce,  which 
admits  of  more  speculation  than  manufactures  or  agricul- 
ture, the  loss  of  capital  has  caused  uneasiness,  and  even 
misery,  to  Dumbers  v.  ho  owned  very  large  capitals,  and  \\  h<», 
impelled  by  the  low  rate  of  profit  to  seek  out  new  channels 
of  trade,  have  employed  their  capitals  in  glutting  distant 
markets,  and  been  ruined  by  such  speculations.  But  has 
the  total  ruin  of  these  great  capitalists,  and  of  a  much  larger 
number  of  small  capitalists,  diminished  the  number  of  mer- 
chants, or  the  amount  of  capital  employed  in  trade?  On 
the  contrary,  the  increase  of  commercial  capital  has  kept 

pace  with   that  of  manufacturing  capital,   and  the   number 

of  merchants  with  the  number  <>f  manufacturers.  '  Millions, 

tens  of  millions  of  English  capital  have  been  thrown  away 


UNEASINESS    OF   THE    MIDDLE    CLASS.  G5 

since  the  peace  in  supplying  distant  markets  with  goods  at 
less  than  cost  price,  and  in  other  speculations,  such  as  work- 
ing, or  pretending  to  work,  the  mines  of  South  America; 
but  whenever  capital  was  in  this  way  abstracted  and  lost, 
its  place  was  immediately  rilled  ;  or  rather  so  large  a  waste 
of  capital  seems  not  to  have  caused  even  a  temporary 
vacuum.  Where  all  the  capital  came  from,  how  it  was  so 
rapidly  accumulated,  is  a  question;  but  that  commercial 
capital  has  been  produced  faster  than  it  was  thrown  away, 
is  a  plain  fact,  about  which  there  can  be  no  dispute.  The 
number  of  merchants  employing  large,  moderate,  and  small 
capitals,  is  very  much  greater  than  it  wras  fifteen  years 
ago  ;*  more  business  is  done  ;  new  channels  of  trade  have 
been  opened  and  filled  :  yet  the  profits  of  commercial 
business  are  now  so  low  that  only  the  most  wealthy  mer- 
chants are  at  ease  ;  all  the  others  are  troubled,  perplexed, 
uneasy,  always  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy. 

With  retail  dealers,  there  is  the  same  complaint  of  low 
profits,  the  same  uneasiness  as  with  farmers,  manufac- 
turers, and  merchants.  Until  of  late  years  most  retail 
trades  were  conducted  by  persons  of  small  or  moderate 
capital.  Of  late  years,  however,  very  large  capitals  have 
been  embarked  in  several  retail  trades.  The  owners  of 
these  large  capitals  act  on  the  maxim — much  business  with 
small  profits  is  as  good  as  little  business  with  large  profits. 
They  are  satisfied,  and  as  each  of  them  possesses  a  large 
capital  they  may  well  be  satisfied,  with  low  "profits.  But 
nothing  is  better  established  than  the  tendency  of  all  capitals, 
and  especially  of  all  capitals  employed  in  the  same  business, 
to  an  equal  rate  of  profit.  It  was  impossible,  therefore, 
that  retail  dealers  of  small  capital  should  obtain  high  profits 
while  great  capitalists  engaged  in  the  same  retail  trade  were 
satisfied  with  low  profits.  Still,  a  general  low  rate  of 
profit  in  retail  trades  must  not  be  considered  as  an  effect  of 
the  employment  of  large  capitals  in  retail  trade.  On  the 
contrary,  large  capitals  have  been  employed  in  retail  trade, 
though,  first,  because  the  agricultural,  manufacturing,  and. 
commercial  fields  were  fully  occupied,  still,  secondly, 
because  the  fulness  of  the  retail  field  offered  to  the  great 
capitalist  some  advantages  over  the  small  one  ;  such  ad- 
vantages as  being  better  able  to  wait  for  distant  returns,  as 

*  In  a  late  debate  on  "  Distress"  in  the  House  of  Commons  (1833),  Mr. 
Grote,  member  for  the  city  of  London,  a  great  capitalist,  and  a  very  accom- 
plished gentleman  besides,  referred  to  the  increase  of  names  in  the  London 
Directory  as  a  proof  that  the  number  of  traders  had  increased. 

9 


66  UNEASINESS    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS. 

being  able  to  buy  when  the  market  price  was  low,  and  to 
sell  when  it  was  high.  The  owners  of  a  large  capital  can 
save  when  the  owners  of  a  small- one  cannot.  The  owners 
of  a  large  capital  engaged  in  retail  trade  have  increased 
their  capitals,  notwithstanding  a  low  rate  of  profit:  a  low 
rate  of  profit  has  ruined  many  retail  dealers  of  moderate 
or  small  capital,  and  at  this  moment  condemns  all  such 
dealers  to  great  uneasiness.  In  London,  and  throughout 
England,  retail  dealers  of  moderate  or  small  capital  com- 
plain of  dulness  of  trade,  stagnation  of  trade,  and  so  forth. 
Do  they  buy  and  sell  less  than  formerly  ?  on  the  contrary, 
except  in  special  cases,  which  fall  out  of  the  general  rule 
and  might  be  explained  by  some  special  circumstances,  they 
do  more  business  than  formerly  :  the  profit,  not  the  business, 
is  less.  And  further,  more  of  them  do  business:  in  all  towns 
without  exception,  the  number  of  retail  dealers  is  greater 
that  it  was  at  the  close  of  the  war ;  and  in  most  towns  the 
increase  of  retail  dealers  has  kept  pace  with  that  striking 
increase  of  houses  which  has  been  noticed  before.  As  in 
manufactures  and  in  wholesale  trade,  so  in  retail  business, 
the  number  of  persons  who  suffer  trouble  and  perplexity 
has  greatly  increased  with  the  uneasiness  occasioned  by  a 
low  rate  of  profit. 

How  a  low  rate  of  profit  renders  the  middle  class  un- 
easy, I  will  now  try  to  explain. 

The  rate  of  interest  is  a  pretty  sure  criterion  of  the  rate 
of  profit.  During  the  last  war,  the  rate  of  interest  was 
very  high.  The  lenders  and  borrowers  of  money  practised 
numerous  tricks  for  evading  the  usury  laws.  One  trick, 
practised  by  noblemen  who  borrowed  large  sums,  was  to 
give  the  lender  a  seat  in  parliament  besides  legal  interest. 
Ever  since  the  peace,  the  common  rate  of  interest  has  re- 
mained below  five  per  cent.  Four  per  cent,  has  been  a 
common  rate  for  large  sums,  which  the  borrowers  were 
entitled  to  hold  for  a  fixed  number  of  years.  In  other 
cases,  where  the  lenders  exacted  repayment  within  a  short 
]m  rind,  three  percent.,  two  and  a  half  per  cent.,  and  at  times 
even  two  per  cent,  has  been  the  ordinary  rate  of  interest. 
Now  let  us  suppose,  though  merely  for  ihc  sake  of  illustra- 
tion, that  during  the  war  the  ordinary  rate  of  profit  was 
twenty  per  cent.,  and  that  since  the  peace  it  has  been  five 
per  cent  If  so,  during  the  wari  which  lasted  near  thirty 
years,  the  income  of  him  who  employed  a  capital  of  10,000/. 

was  2,0002.  a  year,  and  has  been,  since  the  peace,  f>()()/.  a 
year ;  if  so,  the  incomes  derived  from  all  capitals  have. 


UNEASINESS    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS.  67 

since  the  peace,  been  only  one-quarter  of  what  they  were 
during  the  war.  It  would  follow,  that  the  means  of  every 
man  engaged  in  business,  agricultural,  manufacturing,  or 
commercial,  wholesale  or  retail,  his  means  of  existence,  of 
supporting  his  family,  of  educating  and  establishing  his 
children,  and,  above  all,  of  contending  against  unfavourable 
accidents,  such  as  bad  seasons,  changes  of  fashion,  and  the 
bankruptcy  of  his  debtors  ;  his  power  for  doing  all  these 
things,  has  been  less  by  three-quarters  since  the  common 
rate  of  profit  was  five  per  cent,  than  when  twenty  per  cent, 
was  the  common  rate  of  profit.  The  difference  may  be 
more  or  less  than  from  twenty  to  five  per  cent. ;  at  all 
events,  it  is  very  considerable.  But  with  a  smaller  power 
for  doing  certain  things,  as  large,  or  a  larger  power  has  been 
required.  In  every  branch  and  rank  of  industry,  every  one 
conceives  that  a  certain  expenditure  is  necessary  to  main- 
tain his  rank,  or  as  he  might  call  it,  his  respectability.  The 
amount  of  expenditure  which  makes  an  Englishman  respect- 
able, in  whatever  condition  or  rank,  has  not  been  much  less 
since  the.  peace  than  during  the  war;  the  education  of 
children  has  not  been  much  cheaper,  while  the  desire  to 
give  children  an  expensive  education  has  greatly  increased  ; 
the  desire  or  obligation  to  establish  children  in  the  world  is 
the  same  as  before,  while  the  difficulty  of  accomplishing 
that  object  is  much  greater,  since  beginners  in  trade  require 
a  much  larger  capital  than  formerly  to  obtain  the  same 
income  as  formerly ;  unfavourable  accidents  happen  as 
before,  while  bankruptcies,  complete  or  partial,  are  more 
frequent  than  ever.  All  those,  therefore,  whose  incomes 
are  derived  from  the  employment  of  capital,  except  great 
capitalists,  who  can  easily  save  out  of  diminished  incomes, 
have  smaller  means  of  meeting  heavier  calls.  Their  exist- 
ence is  a  continued  struggle  with  difficulties.  How  to 
make  the  two  ends  meet,  which  way  to  turn,  how  to  pro- 
vide for  one  claim  without  neglecting  another,  how  to  es- 
cape ruin,  or  at  least  what  they  consider  degradation,  how  on 
earth  to  manage  for  their  children  ;  these  are  the  thoughts 
which  trouble  and  perplex  them.  The  anxious,  vexed,  or 
harassed  class,  would  be  a  better  name  for  them  than  the 
milder  term  which  I  have  used.  These  are  the  people 
who  in  classes,  or  altogether,  keep  up  the  cries  of  agricul- 
tural distress,  manufacturing  distress,  commercial  distress, 
distress  of  trade,  and  national  distress. 

Distress  is  not  confined  to  those  who  employ  a  material 
capital.     The  learning,  skill,  and  reputation,  united,  of  a 


68  TNEASIXESS    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS. 

professional  man,  may  be  called  his  capital.  Great  profes- 
sional capitalists,  those  who  possess  all  at  once  great 
skill,  great  learning,  and  a  high  reputation,  still  make 
large  incomes  :  but  none  of  those  whose  learning,  or  skill, 
or  reputation  is  small,  make  enough  to  live  upon.  The 
very  high  prizes  of  the  bar  and  the  church  have  always 
led  to  a  keen  competition  in  these  professions  ;  so  that  at 
all  times  there  has  been  a  large  proportion  of  barristers 
"without  briefs,  and  of  clergymen  eager  to  obtain  a  miserable 
curacy  ;  but  at  this  time  the  proportion  of  briefless  barris- 
ters is  greater  than  ever,  as  well  as  the  number  of  clergy- 
men eager  to  be  curates.  And,  at  this  time,  not  only  the 
bar  and  the  established  church  are  crowded  with  hungry 
competitors,  but  also  every  dissenting  church,  the  attorney's 
branch  of  law,  and  all  the  branches  of  the  medical  and  surgi- 
cal professions.  Nay,  full,  overflowing  as  are  all  these  pro- 
fessions, the  number  of  young  people  who  hope  to  live  by 
them  is  far  greater  than  ever ;  witness  the  crowds  of 
students  in  the  inns  of  court,  of  young  men  every  year 
admitted  to  practise  as  attorneys,  of  clerical  students  in  the 
universities  and  dissenting  schools,  and  of  students  in  the 
schools  of  medicine  and  surgery.  It  seems  impossible  that 
a  third  of  them  should  ever  live  by  the  pursuits  which  they 
intend  to  follow ;  for  even  now  two-thirds  of  the  persons 
engaged  in  those  careers  live  by  snatching  the  bread  out 
of  each  other's  mouths.  Two-thirds,  therefore,  at  the 
very  least,  of  professional  men,  may  be  reckoned  among  the 
uneasy  class. 

To  these  must  be  added  a  swarm  of  engineers,  archi- 
tects, painters,  surveyors,  brokers,  agents,  paid  writers, 
keepers  of  schools,  tutors,  governesses,  and  clerks.  The 
occupations  of  some  of  these  classes  permit  the  employ- 
ment of  a  material  capital.  Engineers,  for  example,  or 
art  hitects,  who  employ  a  material  capital,  must  be  excluded 
from  this  list ;  since  whatever  has  been  said  of  farmers, 
,  mid  merchants,  applies  to  them.  Such  of 
them  as  employ  a  large  capital  increase  their  fortunes  with 
small  profits;  such  of  them  as  employ  a  small  or  moderate 
capital  live  in  trouble  ami  vexation.  Some  few  also  must 
be  taken  out  of  this  list,  \\  ho,  without  employing  a  material 
capital,  mi'  distinguished  for  learning,  skill,  and  reputation 
united.  There  are  some  painters,  now  ami  then  there  is  a 
writer,  who  make  large  Incomes  :  but  the  great  mass 
of  these  two  i  who  supply  the  ordinary,  one 

may  aaj  the  necessary,  demand  for  pictures  and  composi- 
tion, rably  poor.     But  was  not  this  always  the 


UNEASINESS    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS.  G9 

case  ?      Without  a  doubt ;    the  poverty  of  painters  and 
authors   is  proverbial ;  moreover  there   can  be   no  doubt, 
that  the  aggregate  of  money  earned  by  English   painters 
and  authors  since  the  peace   has  been  very  much  greater 
than  during  any  former  period  of  equal  length ;  but  during 
the  last  fifteen  years  the  proportion  of  poor  painters  and 
authors  has  greatly  increased ;  and  never  was  it  so  great 
as  at  this  moment.     Since  the  invention  of  printing  and  the 
general  spread  of  education,  the  common  run  of  knowledge 
has   always  been   held  cheap ;  but  now,  in   England,  it  is 
the  cheapest  of  all  commodities,  except  Irish  manual  labour. 
It  is  not,  however,  the  smallness  of  the  incomes  earned  by 
a  swarm  of  educated  people  that  strikes  one  so  much,  as 
the  vast  number  of  competitors  for  those  very  small  in- 
comes ;  the  hungry  crowd  of  expectants  watching  to  oust 
the  beggarly  crowd  in  possession.     What  condition  of  life 
is  more  detestable  than  that  of  an  English  governess  ?     In 
England,  where  poverty  is  a  crime,  governesses,  young, 
beautiful,  well-informed,  virtuous,  and,  from  the  contradic- 
tion between  their  poverty  and  their  intrinsic  merit,  pecu- 
liarly susceptible,  are  generally  treated  as  criminals  ;  im- 
prisoned, set  to  hard  labour,  cruelly  mortified  by  the  parents 
and  visiters,  worried  by  the  children,  insulted  by  the  ser- 
vants ;  and  all  for  what?  for  butler's  wages.     Yet  take  up 
any  London  newspaper,  any  day  in  the  year,  and  you  shall 
find  in  it  a  string  of  advertisements  for  the  hateful  situation 
of  governess.     There  is  an  institution  in  England,  of  which 
the  object  is  to  provide  for  decayed  governesses,  by  means 
of  a  small  yearly  subscription  from  those  who  are  not  yet 
worn  out;  and  the  title  of  this  benefit  club  is  the  "Govern- 
esses'  Mutual  Assurance  Society."      Last  year,  a  news- 
paper, which   is  read   principally  by  the   aristocracy,  by 
Captain  Hall's  spending  class,  noticing  the  club  in  question, 
proposed  that  it  should  be  called  "  the  governesses'  mutual 
impudence  society."     This  blackguard  joke  was  uttered  to 
please  whom  1  the  readers  of  the  newspaper  in  which  it 
appeared  ;    a  class  who  employ  governesses,  a  class   to 
whom,  in  that  very  newspaper,  numerous  advertisements 
for  the  situation  of  governess  are  continually  addressed. 
An  eminent  English  physician,  whose  wife  had  been  a  gov- 
erness, states  that,  of  the  inmates  of  madhouses,  the  largest 
proportion  consists  of  women  who  have  been  governesses. 
Vet  lor  this  dreadful  and  shabbily-paid  office  of  governess, 
there  are,  judging  from  the  newspapers,  more  candidates, 
in  proportion  to  places,  than  for  any  other  disagreeable  em- 


70  UNEASINESS    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS. 

ployment :  not,  however,  that  one  observes  any  lack  of 
candidates  for  other  subordinate  employments  which  require 
the  common  run  of  knowledge,  or  even  superior  knowledge. 
They  talk  much  in  England  of  superabundance  of  labourers, 
meaning  common  workmen  ;  but  these  are  not  more  re- 
dundant than  governesses,  keepers  of  schools,  and  clerks  of 
every  description. 

Superabundance  is  a  relative  term.  Considering  the 
superabundance  of  capitalists,  in  proportion  to  the  means  of 
employing  capital  with  profit,  and  of  professional  men  in 
proportion  to  the  demand  for  their  services,  there  is  a  reason 
why,  of  necessity,  the  subordinate  classes  should  be  redun- 
dant: because  the  fields  for  the  employment  of  capital  in 
agriculture,  manufactures,  and  trade,  and  for  the  employ- 
ment of  professional  learning  and  skill,  being  quite  full,  there 
is  no  room  in  those  fields  for  the  progeny  of  the  subordi- 
nate classes;  while  the  grown  up  children  of  capitalists  and 
professional  men,  who  are  either  ruined,  or  can  but  just 
make  the  two  ends  meet,  instead  of  following  the  careers  of 
their  fathers,  increase  the  competition  for  subordinate  em- 
ployments. But  is  there  less  room  for  the  subordinate 
classes,  than  there  was  fifteen  years  ago  ?  Positively,  no  ; 
relatively,  yes.  Subordinate  employments  are  far  more 
numerous  than  they  were  fifteen  years  ago ;  but  then, 
throughout  the  fifteen  years,  the  classes  wanting  subordinate 
employments  have  increased  more  rapidly  than  the  demand 
for  their  services.  Suppose  the  field  to  have  been  doubled, 
the  cultivators  have  been  quadrupled :  with  a  greater  field 
than  ever,  never  was  there  such  a  want  of  room. 

Among  the  uneasy  class  must  be  included,  finally,  a  large 
body  of  people  whose  incomes  are  fixed,  whose  means  of 
existence  are  not  subject  to  the  rate  of  profit  or  the  demand 
for  professional  and  subordinate  services, — landowners,  sine- 
curists,  public  servants,  and  owners  of  government  stock. 
Great  landowners,  great  sinccurists,  highly  paid  public  ser- 
vants, and  great  stockholders,  belong  to  the  spending  class, 
together  With  greal  fanners,  manufacturers,  merchants, 
tradesmen,  and  lawyers.  The  owner  of  lO.OOO  acres  of  land, 
Lord  Elledboroiagn  with  a  patenl  income  of  10,000/.  a  year, 
the  iurd-ehanceJIor  with  an  income  lately  cut  down  to 
14,000/.  a  year,  or  the  stockholder  who  receives  5,000/.  or 
even  2,0002,  a  year  in  regular  half-yearly  payments  at  the 
bank,  has  no  reason  to  complain  Ol  distress.  Nor  indeed 
has  anyone,  apparently, whose  income  was  fixed  during 
the  war,  and  has  been  much  increased  by  an  alteration  in 


UNEASINESS    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS.  71 

the  value  of  money.  Nevertheless,  many  thousands  of 
people,  enjoying  fixed  incomes,  suffer  deep  anxiety;  anxiety 
caused  by  the  distress  of  those  classes  whose  incomes  are 
not  fixed:  I  mean  landowners,  sinecurists,  public  servants, 
and  fundowners,  whose  fixed  incomes  are  not  large,  and 
who  have  children  to  provide  for.  What  is  to  become  of  the 
sons  and  daughters  ?  No  man  likes  that  his  son  should  fall, 
or  his  daughter  marry,  into  a  circle  much  inferior  to  his 
own  ;  especially  in  England,  where  this  sort  of  degradation, 
like  absolute  poverty,  is  disgraceful,  if  not  criminal.  Every 
Englishman  of  property,  moreover,  likes  that  his  eldest  son 
should  inherit  nearly  the  whole  of  his  property.  What  then, 
when  there  is  property,  must  become  of  the  younger  sons 
and  the  daughters?  What  of  all  the  children,  where  the 
property  is  only  for  life  ?  The  father  must  save:  good; 
but  the  moment  he  proceeds  to  invest  his  savings,  he  feels 
the  low  rate  of  profit  and  interest.  During  the  war  he 
could,  with  a  little  management,  have  obtained  ten,  twelve, 
perhaps  fifteen  per  cent,  for  his  money  :  now,  no  one  pays 
five  per  cent,  with  good  security.  He  consults  his  banker 
as  to  the  best  mode  of  investment.  "  Upon  my  word,"  says 
the  latter,  "  I  cannot  advise  you :  the  funds  are  so  high,  and 
so  likely  to  fall  through  political  agitation,  there  is  so  much 
money  with  so  much  distress  and  discontent,  that  we  know 
not  what  to  do  with  our  money.  I  have  100,000/.  in  that 
drawer  ;  and  if  you  will  tell  me  of  a  better  place  for  it,  I  shall 
be. very  much  obliged  to  you."*  He  is  troubled,  therefore, 
to  fix  on  a  mode  of  investment,  and  when  the  choice  is 
made,  annoyed  because  the  interest  is  so  low.  But  he  can- 
not save  enough  to  prevent  the  degradation  of  his  children, 
without  incurring  degradation  himself;  without  losing  caste 
by  a  great  diminution  of  expenditure.  His  savings,  there- 
fore, when  invested  in  the  best  way,  that  is,  in  an  insurance  of 
his  life,  whereby  he  reaps  the  benefit  of  low  profits  in  the 
shape  of  a  low  premium,  are  but  just  sufficient  to  provide  a 

*  "In  the  money  market,  the  greatest  torpor  and  want  of  enterprise  pre- 
vail. There  has  probably  never  existed  a  period  at  which  so  tittle  employ- 
ment for  capital,  at  once  safe  and  profitable,  has  presented  itself;  and  it  is 
quite  evident,  that  unless  some  change  takes  place,  capitalists  are  on  the 
point  of  being  forced  into  some  wild  and  dangerous  schemes,  that  must  be 
attended  with  ultimate  loss,  by  the  mere  impatience  of  letting  their  money  lie 
idle.  Whatever  the  cause  of  the  low  rate  of  interest  may  be,  reflecting  men 
look  at  it  with  much  alarm,  especially  as  it  has  now  been  of  long  continuance  ; 
and  if  some  legitimate  employment  for  capital  does  not  soon  offer,  we  may- 
expect  soon  to  see  a  new  influx  of  foreign  loans  and  joint-stock  schemes." 
— City  Article  of  the  Times.     Oclobcr  10th,  1832. 


72  UNEASINESS    OF   THE    MIDDLE    CLASS. 

maintenance  for  his  wife  and  children  after  his  death.  What 
are  the  sons  to  do  when  grown  up,  or  if  grown  up  ?  The  army? 
— pay  for  a  commission ;  and  then,  unless  you  belong  to  the 
spending  class,  look  on  promotion  as  hopeless.  In  the  navy, 
candidates  for  promotion  are  quite  as  redundant  as  in  the 
army.  The  church? — buy  a  living,  or  else  your  son  must 
struggle,  and  may  struggle  in  vain  too,  with  a  host  of  needy 
competitors  for  miserable  curacies.  The  law,  medicine, 
trade  ? — all  full,  overflowing  ;  while  the  last,  whether  agricul- 
tural, manufacturing,  or  commercial,  requires  a  large  capital, 
or  it  will  bring  uneasiness,  perhaps  bankruptcy.  A  place  under 
government  ? — yes,  perhaps,  if  you  are  the  parasite  of  a 
great  man.  I  say  perhaps,  because  the  class  of  parasites 
wanting  places  has  greatly  increased  of  late,  like  all  the  other 
classes,  while  the  number  of  places  is  become  somewhat 
less.  At  best,  your  son  will  obtain  but  a  small  place  ;  all 
the  great  ones,  both  at  home  and  in  the  colonies,  being  kept 
for  young  people  of  the  spending  class.  At  any  rate,  the 
pain  of  being  a  parasite  brings  you  within  the  uneasy  class. 
There  was  a  way,  indeed,  by  which  a  man  of  moderate  or 
small  income  could  obtain  places  for  his  sons  without  crin- 
ging to  anyone ;  by  connecting  himself  with  a  rotten  borough, 
as  alderman,  bailiff,  returning  officer  or  crier ;  but  the  glory 
of  rotten  boroughs  has  passed  aw7ay  ;  and,  if  reform  should 
go  no  further,  only  the  spending  class  and  their  parasites  will 
obtain  places  under  government. 

But  if  a  man  of  lixed  income,  his  income  being  small  or 
moderate,  be  troubled  to  provide  for  his  sons,  how  to  pro- 
vide for  his  daughters  is  a  more  perplexing  question.  The 
first,  no,  the  second  point,  is  to  get  them  married  ;  the  first 
point  is  to  prevent  them  from  marrying  into  a  fewer,  which 
commonly  means  a  poorer,  rank  than  that  in  which  they 
were  born.  The  first  point  is  generally  effected  during 
childhood,  when  ever}'  day,  and  almost  every  hour  of  the 
day,  something  happens  to  impress  them  with  a  fear  of  such 
degradation  as  attaches  to  imprudent  marriages.  The  sc- 
cond  purpose,  being  subject  to  the  first,  becomes  extremely 
difficult.  If  the  girl  had  a  fortune,  she  would  belong  to 
Captain  Basil  I  [alls  spending  elass ;  we  suppose  her  to  have 
no  fortune  excepl  beaut},  tenderness,  modesty,  and  good 
son-'-.  Who  will  take  her  as  a  wife,  that  she  will  take  as  a 
husband  I  She  may  b\  chance,  or  rather  her  mother  may, 
by  dint  of  greal  toil  and  managi  mint,  catch  oik;  of  the  spend- 
in'/  clas  :  bul  ties  would  be  an  exception  to  the  general  rule. 
The  general  rule  with  the  daughters  of  men  of  small  income, 


UNEASINESS    OF    THE    MIDDLE    CLASS.  73 

whether  fixed  or  not,  is  a  choice  between  celibacy  and  mar- 
riage with  one  of  the  uneasy  class.  Now,  a  great  propor- 
tion of  young  men  in  the  uneasy  class  dread  marriage,  unless 
there  be  fortune  in  the  case,  as  the  surest  means  of  increas- 
ing their  embarrassment.  This  is  one  of  the  most  important 
features  in  the  social  state  of  England.  Among  the  middle 
class,  among  all  classes  except  the  highest  and  the  lowest, 
"  moral  restraint"  is  a  confirmed  habit.  Hence  immorality 
without  a  parallel  in  any  other  country.  This  is  the  cause 
of  that  exuberant  prostitution  which  shocks  an  American. 
Another  effect  of  "  moral  restraint"  among  the  middle  class 
is,  that  a  great  proportion  of  the  females  in  that  class  are 
doomed  to  celibacy.  One  may  well  say  doomed.  Custom 
forbids  them  to  practise  that  sort  of  "  moral  restraint"  to 
which  their  brothers  resort  without  disgrace  ;  and  custom  is 
stronger  than  walls  and  bars.  In  this  case,  it  has  more 
power  than  the  strictest  discipline  of  a  convent.  But  why 
do  the  English,  Americans,  French,  Dutch,  and  Germans 
regard  with  horror  the  legal  institution  of  celibacy  ?  On 
account  of  its  unnatural  cruelty.  Well  then,  in  England,  a 
certain  state  of  political  economy,  pride,  or  prudence,  and 
custom,  occasion  more  unnatural  suffering  than  the  villanous 
theocracies  of  Italy  and  Spain.  The  proportion  of  English 
women  who  pine  in  celibacy,  is  far  greater  than  that  of  Span- 
ish or  Italian  women  who  languish  in  convents  ;  and  the  Eng- 
lish women  suffer  more  than  the  others,  because,  living  in 
the  world,  they  are  more  in  the  way  of  temptation,  more 
cruelly  tantalized  by  their  intercourse  with  happy  wives  and 
mothers.  There  is  not  in  the  world  a  more  deplorable 
sight,  than  a  fine  brood  of  English  girls  turning  into  old 
maids  one  after  the  other :  first  reaching  the  bloom  of 
beauty,  full  of  health,  spirits,  and  tenderness ;  next  striving 
anxiously,  aided  by  their  mother,  to  become  honoured  and 
happy  wives  ;  then  fretting,  growing  thin,  pale,  listless,  and 
cross;  at  last,  if  they  do  not  go  mad  or  die  of  consumption, 
seeking  consolation  in  the  belief  of  an  approaching  millen- 
nium, or  in  the  single  pursuit  of  that  happiness  in  another 
world,  which  this  world  has  denied  to  them.  The  picture 
may  displease,  even  because  it  is  correct.  This,  Americans, 
you  whose  domestic  manners  an  Englishwoman  holds  up  to 
the  ridicule  of  her  countrywomen ;  this  is  a  faithful  sketch 
from  domestic  life  among  the  English  middle  class. 

The  misery  of  the  working  class  of  Englishmen  is  not, 
perhaps,  at  this  time,  much  greater  in  degree  than  at  former 
times,  or  so  great  as  the  misery  of  the  bulk  of  the  people  in 

10 


74  OVERFLOWING    NATIONAL    WEALTH 

most  other  countries,  except  America.  In  this  respect,  the 
difference  between  the  past  and  the  present  seems  to  be ; 
first,  that  with  the  increase  of  population  there  are  more 
people  to  be  miserable,  not  more  in  proportion,  but  more 
absolutely ;  and  secondly,  that,  with  the  increase  of  know- 
ledge, one  learns  all  about  that  misery  which  was  formerly 
concealed  from  the  happy  classes.  But  the  great  uneasiness 
of  the  middle  class  in  England  is  a  new  state  of  things ; 
unexplained,  and  at  first  sight  unaccountable,  if  one  reflects 
on  the  vast  and  rapidly  increasing  wealth  of  the  English 
nation.  Competition  for  wages  is,  plainly,  the  immediate 
cause  of  misery  among  the  working  class  :  but  what 
occasions  that  severe  competition  among  people  of  capital 
and  education,  that  snatching  at  each  other's  means  of  ex- 
istence, which  renders  the  life  of  the  English  middle  class 
one  struggle  with  difficulties  ?  This  question  is  examined 
in  the  following  note. 


NOTE   IV. 

COINCIDENCE     OF     OVERFLOWING     NATIONAL     WEALTH    WITH 
THE    UNEASINESS    AND    MISERY    OF    INDIVIDUALS. 

Theories  of  the  English  economists — A  dream  of  Robinson  Crusoe's  island — 
The  field  of  production  an  element  of  wealth — Argument  with  the  econo- 
mists— Argument  with  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin — America  and  England, 
as  to  the  field  of  production — Cases  of  various  proportions  among  the  ele- 
ments of  production — Peculiar  case  of  England — As  wealth  increases, 
many  individuals  are  less  rich — Moral  and  sirictlv  political  effects  of  the 
various  proportions  which  the  Geld  of  production  beaTS  to  capital  and 
labour — Peculiar  effects  in  the  peculiar  case  of   England. 

According  to  certain  theories  of  the  English  political 
economists,  it  is  quite  impossible  thai  my  account  of  the 
wealth,  uneasiness,  and  misery  of  the  English  people  should 
lie  true.  Those  philosophers  would  siy — If  the  capital  of 
England  be  so  much  greater  in  proportion  to  people  than 
thai  of  «>iIkt  countries,  wages  must  be  higher  in  England 
than  elsewhere  ;*  for  "Wages  depend  on  the  proportion 
between   population   and  capitaL"*      Again,  if  the  middle 

•  "i  nr.i'i  ally  then  we  may  affirm  that,  other  things  remaining  the  same, 
If  the  ratio  which  capital  and  population  bear  to  one  another  remains  the 
same,  wages  will  remain  the  tame  ;  if  the  ratio  w  bich  capital  bears  to  popu- 
lation increases,  wagebill  ris*  ;  if  the    ratio  which   population   bears  to 


COINCIDENT    WITH    INDIVIDUAL    UNEASINESS.  75 

class  suffered  from  the  low  profits  of  stock,  the  labouring 
class  would  enjoy  high  wages  ;  and  if  the  labouring  class 
suffered  from  low  wages,  the  capital  of  the  middle  class 
would  yield  high  profits  ;  since  "  the  profits  of  slock  depend 
upon  wages,  rise  as  wages  fall,  and  fall  as  wages  rise."f 
This  is  called  reasoning  d  priori,  and  though  very  sound 
and  profound,  no  doubt,  to  those  who  understand  it,  is  sadly 
puzzling  to  common  intellects.  Let  us  try,  however,  to 
make  it  out. 

The  English  people  have  accumulated  afar  greater  capital 
than  the  same  number  of  people  ever  possessed,  or  dreamed 
of  possessing,  since  the  world  began:  they  have  so  much 
capital  that  they  know  not  what  to  do  with  it :  though 
during  the  last  half  century  they  have  squandered,  wasted, 
utterly  thrown  away,  more  capital  than  most  nations  possess, 
they  still  possess  more  capital  than  they  ever  possessed 
before.  Abundance  of  capital,  in  proportion  to  people, 
always  produces  high  wages.  Therefore,  wages  are  much 
higher  in  England  than  they  ever  were  among  any  other 
people,  or  at  any  previous  time  among  the  English  people. 
Aristotle  would  not  have  quarrelled  with  the  syllogism,  and 
that  great  logician  and  economist,  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin, 
will  find  no  fault  in  it,  logically  speaking.  But  there  must 
be  an  error  somewhere,  since  the  conclusion  is  directly  at 
variance  with  a  known  fact.     Let  us  try  again. 

1.  When  capital  is  less  in  proportion  to  people,  wages 

are  lower  ; 

2.  The   proportion    of  capital  to  people   is  far  less  in 

America  than  in  England  ; 

3.  Therefore,  wages  are  far  lower  in  America  than  in 

England. 
The  logic  is  still  good  ;  but  the  conclusion  is  again  directly 
at  variance  with  a  known  truth  ;  the  fact  being,  that  wages 
are  far  higher  in  America  than  in  England.  Wherein  lies 
the  error  ?  in  one  of  the  propositions,  but  in  which  of  them, 
my  lord  ?  I  put  the  question  to  the  archbishop,  and  to  Mr. 
Mill,  who,  like  his  grace,  is  a  great  economist  and  logician. 

capital  increases,  wages  will  fall.  From  this  law,  clearly  understood,  it  is 
easy  to  trace  the  circumstances  which,  in  any  country,  determine  the  con- 
dition of  the  great  body  of  the  people." — MiWs  Elements  of  Political 
Economy,  pa^e  44,  3d  edit. 

•   Mill's    Elements  of  Political  Economy,  Section   Wages,  p.  41,  3d  edit. 

t  Mill's  Elements,  Section  Profits,  p.  71,  3d  edit. 

"  It  must  at  once  be  seen,"  says  Mr.  Ricardo,  that  "  profits  would  be 
high  or  low,  exactly  as  wages  were  low  or  high.  *****  There  could  be 
no  rise  in  the  value  of  labour,"without  a  fall  of  profits." 


7G  OVERFLOWING    NATIONAL    WEALTH 

Now  fur  the  question  of  profits  ;  according  to  the  econo- 
mists. 

1.  When  profits  are  high,  wages  are  low; 

2.  In  America,  profits  are  very  high  ; 

3.  Therefore,  in  America,  wages  are  very  low. 
Again,— 

J .  When  wages  are  low,  profits  are  high ; 

2.  Wages  are  very  high  in  America  ; 

3.  Therefore,  profits  are  very  low  in  America. 
Or  thus, — 

1.  When  profits  are  low,  wages  are  high  ; 

2.  In  England,  profits  are  very  low ; 

3.  Therefore,  in  England,  wages  are  very  high. 
And  again, — 

1 .  When  wages  are  low,  profits  are  high ; 

2.  Wages  are  very  low  in  England  ; 

3.  Therefore,  in  England,  profits  are  very  high. 
Deuse  take  the  conclusion  !  it  always  comes  wrong,  which 

ever  way  one  looks  for  it.  1  had  been  puzzling  myself  to 
get  over  a  difficulty  in  political  economy  by  means  of  logic, 
when  growing  more  and  more  confused,  I  at  last  had  the 
good  luck  to  fall  asleep.  Good  luck,  I  say,  because  during 
my  sleep  I  had  a  dream,  which  explained  to  me  why  profits 
and  wages,  both  together,  are  so  low  in  England  and  so  high 
in  America.     This  was  my  dream  : — 

I  was  shipwrecked  and  cast  into  the  sea.  I  heard  the 
shrieks  of  my  shipmates  who  were  drowning,  and  felt  the 
pain  of  having  my  own  head  struck  against  a  rock.  My 
next  impression  was  less  disagreeable.  1  found  myself 
alone,  but  quite  well,  in  Robinson  Crusoe's  island,  walking 
up  the  green  slope  from  the  creek  to  the  cave.  Robinson 
came  out  by  his  ladder  to  meet  me,  and  said  with  a  smile — 
"Welcome!  countryman."  For  my  part,  [embraced  him 
tenderly,  as  an  old  and  very  dear  friend.  Presently,  Friday 
ran  up  to  as,  and  though  he  made  me  laugh  by  bowing  very 
l<>w  and  kicking  up  bis  legs, backwards, one  after  the  other, 
expressing  respect  and  joy  at  the  same  time,  still  I  could 
not  help  snaking  hands  with  him  also,  the  faithful  creature. 
Robinson  asked  me  to  take  something  after  my  voyage  ; 
but  I,  not  to  be  behind  him  in  politeness,  seeing  that  he  was 
in  a  hurry  to  show  me  all  his  fine  things,  said — t(  Not  at 
nt,  thank  you;  1  should  like  to  sec  your  improve- 
ments." Hereupon  he  led  me,  first  to  his  crops,  which  had 
arance  ;  and  then  within  the  enelo* 


COINCIDENT    WITH    INDIVIDUAL    UNEASINESS.  77 

sure,  where  I  admired  his  goats,  the  tools  which  had  cost 
him  so  much  trouble,  and  the  great  store  of  provisions  and 
seeds  which  he  had  laid  up.  At  length,  we  sat  down  to  a 
very  respectable  dinner  of  fish  and.  roasted  kid. ;  chatting 
as  follows  during  the  meal. 

Dreamer. — Altogether,  Mr.  Crusoe,  you  seem  quite  at 
your  ease. 

Robinson. — Why,  yes,  blessed,  be  God  !  but  I  have  had 
my  trials.  It  was  a  sore  trial  when  I  was  obliged  to  sow 
the  seed  that  I  would  fain  have  eaten,  and  when  I  had  no 
Friday  to  help  me  ;  but  1  have  been  very  comfortable 
since  I  got  before  the  world,  with  a  good  stock  of  seeds, 
tools,  and  goats :  nay,  since  I  lighted  on  Friday,  I  have 
lived  like  a  gentleman,  quite  at  my  ease,  as  you  say. 
D.  You  are  a  capitalist  now,  Robinson  ? 
R.  Capitalist !  what  is  that  ? 

D.  Why,  seeds,  tools,  and  goats  are  capital  ;  and  as 
you  possess  these,  you  are  a  capitalist.  Friday  works  ;  you 
direct  him,  and  give  him  a  share  of  the  produce  :  Friday 
is  a  labourer. 

R.  A  labourer  !  yes,  he  works  ;  a  share  !  he  takes  what 
he  pleases. 

D.  Of  course,  high  wages  of  labour,  eh  ;  and  high  profits 
of  stock  also,  or  you  would  not  be  so  much  at  your  ease,  Mr. 
Robinson  Crusoe. 

R.  I  have  forgotten  some  of  my  English.  High  wages 
of  labour,  high  profits  of  stock  !  what  are  they  ? 

D.  In  this  island,  high  wages  mean,  that  you  can  let 
Friday  take  what  he  pleases  without  stinting  yourself;  and 
high  profits  mean,  that  Friday  takes  what  he  pleases  with- 
out stinting  you.  Friday's  labour,  with  the  aid  of  your 
seeds,  tools,  and  goats,  produces  plenty  for  both  of  you. 

R.  Yes — but  hark  !  man  Friday !  friend  !  down  upon 
your  knees  !  here's  another  earthquake  ! 

And  sure  enough  it  was  a  terrible  earthquake  ;  for  though 
it  hurt  none  of  us  and  did  not  last  a  minute,  when  we  re- 
covered ourselves  and  passed  from  the  cave,  through  the 
enclosure,  and  over  the  outer  fence,  behold,  every  part  of 
the  island  was  covered  with  water,  except  the  rock  which 
formed  the  cave,  and  about  half  an  acre  of  land  in  front  of 
us.  Robinson  and  his  man  knelt  again,  and  returned 
thanks  to  God  for  having  preserved  our  lives  ;  while  I 
stood  by,  distressed  to  think  of  what  would  become  of  them 
with  only  that  half  acre  of  land.  Crusoe's  calmness  and 
resignation  were  quite  admirable.     Rising,  he  embraced 


78  OVERFLOWING    NATIONAL    WEALTH 

Friday,  saying — "  The  Lord  giveth  and  the  Lord  taketh 
away  ;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord  !"  Poor  Friday, 
however,  began  to  cry ;  and  I  felt  disposed  to  keep  him 
company,  when  Robinson  pointing  to  the  enclosure  said — 
"  We  have  plenty  left,  food  for  a  year,  seeds,  tools,  and  goats ; 
capital,  sir,  I  think  you  called  them  ?" 

"  But  what,"  asked  I,  "  is  the  use  of  capital  without  a 
field  to  employ  it  on  ?  Your  goats  will  be  starved,  and 
with  no  more  than  this  little  bit  of  land  you  will  be  unable 
to  use  half  your  tools,  or  a  quarter  of  your  seeds." 

Robinson  looked  rather  blank  at  this,  but  said — "  We 
must  do  with  less  ;  there  will  be  less  for  Friday  and  less 
for  me,  but  enough,  I  hope,  to  keep  us  alive." 

"  Low  wages  and  low  profits,"  said  I  ;  "  but  that  is  a 
shocking  state  to  be  in.  Cannot  you  set  Friday  to  make, 
with  the  things  that  are  left  from  your  wreck,  instruments 
and  ornaments  for  some  neigbouring  savages,  who  have 
more  food  than  they  know  what  to  do  with  ?  In  that  way, 
if  Friday  were  expert  and  industrious,  you  might  be  better 
supplied  than  ever." 

"  Our  neighbours,"  answered  Robinson,  "  would  make 
food  of  us  if  they  could." 

11  Oh  !"  said  I,  "  I  had  forgotten  that  restriction  on  trade. 
Well,  you  cannot  enlarge  your  field  of  production  in  that 
way,  and  it  is  a  sad  affair  ;  but  1  know  what  the  English 
political  economists  would  advise  ;  for  Friday's  sake,  at 
least." 

"  Political  economists  !"  exclaimed  Robinson,  "  who  are 
they  ?" 

"  They  are,"  I  replied,  "  a  new  'sect,  and  have  set  up  a 
new  god,  which  is  called  capital,  and  which  they  worship 
devoutly." 

"The  wicked  idolators !  but  what  would  they  advise?" 

"Only  for  Friday's  sake,  mind,  in  order  that  his  wages 
mighl  be  higher,  they  would  advise  you  (<>  increase  your 
capital." 

"What!  when  1  have  already  more  than  Friday  and  I 
Khali  know  how  to  use  ?" 

"  Y'-s;  with  abundance  of  capital,  they  believe,  wages 
are  sure  to  he  high." 

••  \nd  my  Bhare,  tin-  profits  I  think  you  called  it,  how  is 
that  to  !"•  made  high  '" 

"By  diminishing  your  capital,  so  that  wages  may  be 
low  ;  for,  say  they,  when  wages  are  low,  prolits  are  sure 
to  be  high." 


COINCIDENT    WITH    INDIVIDUAL    UNEASINESS.  79 

Here  Robinson  laughed  so  loud  that  I  awoke  ;  saying 
to  myself — The  only  way  in  which  Robinson  and  his  man 
could  get  bark  to  high  profits  and  high  wages,  would  be 
by  getting  back  the  land  that  they  have  lost. 

By  this  dream  I  was  led  to  observe,  that  the  modern 
economists,  in  treating  of  the  production  and  distribution 
of  wealth,  have  overlooked  the  chief  element  of  production  ; 
namely,  the  field  in  which  capital  and  labour  are  employed. 
They  have  written  volumes  on  capital  and  labour,  and  the 
effect  of  the  various  proportions  which  these  may  bear  to 
each  other,  but  have  scarcely  noticed  the  field  of  produc- 
tion ;  and  this  but  incidentally  when  explaining  what  they 
conceive  to  be  the  nature  of  rent.  In  their  theory  of  rent, 
indeed,  they  show,  that  as  capital  increases  on  a  limited 
field  of  production,  it  is  employed  with  less  and  less  pro- 
ductiveness, whence  the  inference  might  be  drawn  that  in 
such  a  case  profits  must  become  lower  and  lower;  but 
of  this  the  modern  economists  say  not  a  word.  In  fact,  to 
have  drawn  such  an  inference  would  have  placed  them  in 
an  awkward  position  ;  since  in  order  to  support  their  views 
of  the  omnipotence  of  capital  without  regard  to  the  means 
of  investment,  they  have  fallen  upon  Adam  Smith  for  saying, 
that  "the  mutual  competition  of  capitalists  naturally  tends 
to  lower  profit."  Instead,  therefore,  of  showing  the  effects 
which  arise  from  various  proportions  between  capita]  and 
the  field  of  production,  they  have  taken  some  pains  to 
establish  that  there  are  not  any  such  effects  ;  that  the  effects 
which  Adam  Smith  supposed  to  arise  from  an  increase  of 
capital  in  proportion  to  the  field,  or  from  a  decrease  of  the 
field  in  proportion  to  capital,  have  never  existed,  save  in 
imagination  of  their  great  master.  How  far  they  are 
right  or  wrong,  is  a  question  of  great  importance  to  the 
English. 

Bring  all  the  people  out  of  France  into  England ;  wrould 
that  make  any  difference  in  English  profits  and  wages? 
None,  Messrs.  Mill  and  M'Culloch  would  say,  provided 
the  French  should  bring  all  their  capital  with  them.  But 
what  could  they  do  with  their  capital  in  a  field  which  is 
already  quite  lull  ?  Employ  it,  would  be  the  answer,  in 
manufactures,  and  so  get  food  from  other  countries. 
Good,  I  reply,  if  there  were  no  corn  laws  ;  but  that  means, 
increase  the  field  of  production,  lay  hold  of  foreign  fields, 
in  proportion  to  the  increase  of  capital  and  people  in  Eng- 
land. Field  of  production  they  would  say,  we  acknowledge 
no  such  term  ;  capital  is  all  in  all. 


80  OVERFLOWING    NATIONAL    WEALTH 

Well,  then,  suppose  that  only  the  capitalists  of  France 
should  come  to  England,  with  all  their  moveable  property  ; 
what  effect  would  that  have  on  English  profits  and  wages? 
Wages,  according  to  the  economists,  would  rise  ;  and, 
through  the  rise  of  wages,  but  not  other  wise,  profits  would 
fall.  But  in  what  way  would  this  increase  of  capital  raise 
wages  ?  By  causing,  would  be  the  answer,  a  greater 
demand  for  labour.  Truly,  if  the  new  capital  were  invested 
productively,  but  not  otherwise  ;  and  how  should  it  be  in- 
vested productively,  or  even  at  all,  when  already  the  capi- 
tal of  England  is  so  great,  in  proportion  to  the  means  of 
productive  investment,  that  it  overflows  into  France*  and 
other  foreign  fields  of  production  ?  Nonsense  !  I  hear  them 
exclaim,  capital  and  production  are  synonymous.  Let  us 
try  them  again. 

Suppose  the  sea,  for  three  hundred  miles  east  and  west  of 
England,  to  be  turned  into  excellent  land,  and  that  every 
one  were  at  liberty  to  take  as  much  of  it  as  he  could  cultivate 
in  the  most  productive  way,  that  is.  with  the  greatest  com- 
bination of  power,  according  to  the  English  system  of  farm- 
ing. What  effect  would  that  have  on  profits  and  wages  ? 
Answer  not  rashly;  but  think  of  America.  Messrs.  Mill 
and  M'Culloch,  answering  devoutly  towards  the  god  of  their 
idolatry,  would  say — No  effect  at  all,  provided  the  propor- 
tion between  capital  and  population  remained  the  same. 
Well,  gentlemen,  let  us  suppose  that  the  proportion  between 
capital  and  population  were  not  altered  for  some  time  ;  that 
a  great  mass  of  capital  which  is  now  lying  idle,  or  about  to 
fly  abroad  in  the  shape  of  foreign  loans  and  distant  specu- 
lations, were  employed  in  cultivating  the  new  land  and 
turned  into  food,  which  is  capital  ;  would  not  the  effect  be, 
supposing  always  that  the  mass  of  capita]  now  idle  and  so 
to  find  cmploymenl  were  very  great  indeed  ;  in  that  ease,  I 
say,  would  not  the  effecl  be  a  greal  increase  <>i  the  demand 
for  labour  and  a  general  rise  of  \\  ages  ?  They  must  answer 
. — yes.  Yes,  gentlemen,  in  that  case  the  mere  conversion 
of  one  s.»rt  of  capital  into  another  sort,  without  any  increase 
of  the  quantity,  would  produce  higher  wages.  Let  us  sup- 
.  further,  that  the  new  land  were  of  so  good  a  quality 
that  the  gross  produce  of  all  capital  employed  on  it  should 

be  sufficient  to  replace  thai  capital,  to  pay  high  wages,  and 

to  leave  high  profits  for  the  capitalists;  in  thai  case,  bear- 
ing in  mind  that,  the  extent  of  the  new  land   is  six  hundred 

•    -  etur  II  "•   C  'iti'ii   and 

lace,  in  France,  are  carried  on  with  English  capital. 


COINCIDENT    WITH    INDIVIDUAL    UNEASINESS.  81 

miles  square,  would  not  capital  be  withdrawn  from  pursuits 
in  which  the  profits  are  low,  and  employed  in  cultivating 
this  very  productive  land  1  and  would  'not  the  effect  be  a 
general  rise  of  profits  ?  Inevitably,  they  must  admit.  Then 
the  case  may  be  supposed  in  which  wages  and  profits,  both 
together,  would  rise  without  any  increase  or  decrease  of 
capital. 

Supposed,  yes,  they  might  say,  but  you  suppose  a 
miracle.  And  you,  gentlemen,  do  not  you  illustrate  all 
your  doctrines,  true  or  false,  by  supposed  cases  ?  But  I  will 
soon  come  to  the  practical  case  :  meanwhile,  one  more  ques- 
tion with  regard  to  this  miracle.  Suppose  that  the  eight 
hundred  millions  which  have  been  thrown  away,  in  creating 
your  national  debt,  had  been  saved,  had  not  been  wasted 
abroad,  and  were  lying  idle  in  any  shape  you  please ;  or 
rather,  for  a  much  lower  draft  on  the  imagination  will  serve 
my  turn,  suppose  that  the  mass  of  English  capital  actually 
either  lying  idle,  or  invested  with  very  low  profit,  were 
sufficient,  when  employed  on  this  new  and  very  product- 
ive land,  to  create  a  demand  for  more  labourers  than  Eng- 
land could  supply  without  delay  ;  and  that,  consequently, 
labourers,  tempted  by  the  prospect  of  high  wages,  should 
immigrate  from  Ireland  and  France.  In  that  case  ;  no  in- 
crease, mind,  but  merely  a  conversion  of  capital  is  supposed  ; 
in  that  case,  an  enlargement  of  the  field  of  production^  mere 
increase  in  the  productiveness  of  capital,  would  have  caused 
a  change  in  the  proportion  between  capital  and  labour, 
would  have  made  the  labourers  more  in  proportion  to 
capital.  Here,  you  see,  is  a  cause  antecedent  to  your  great 
first  cause,  the  proportion  between  capital  and  labour  :  and 
observe,  further,  that  the  effect  produced  by  enlarging  the 
field  of  production,  namely,  an  increase  of  labourers,  might 
have  no  effect  at  all  on  the  rate  of  wages ;  or  rather  that 
wages  might  rise  while  the  number  of  labourers  was  in- 
creasing, provided  the  amount  of  capital  lately  idle,  and 
now  used  productively,  were  more  than  sufficient  to  employ 
the  increasing  body  of  labourers. 

In  America,  profits  and  wages  both  are  high,  without  a 
miracle.  In  America,  the  land  is  so  good,  it  returns  so 
large  a  produce  to  capital  and  labour,  however  unskil- 
fully employed,  that  all  who  cultivate  it  obtain  plenty,  like 
Robinson  and  his  man  in  the  first  part  of  my  dream  ;  the 
share  of  the  masters  being  called  high  profits,  and  that  of 
the  servants  high  wages.  Moreover,  the  good  land  in 
America  is  so  plentiful,  that  no  one  is  forced  to  employ  his 

11 


82  OVERFLOWING    NATIONAL    WEALTH 

capital  or  labour  less  productively  than  in  agriculture. 
Consequently,  all  the  capital  employed  in  America  yields 
high  profits  and  high  wages  ;  the  high  profits  and  wages  of 
agriculture  being  spent  in  giving  high  profits  and  wages  to 
capitalists  and  labourers  engaged  in  other  pursuits.  The 
productiveness  of  all  capital  and  labour  is  very  great,  and 
does  not  decrease  with  the  increase  of  capital  and  labour  ; 
because,  however  rapid  that  increase,  it  is  accompanied  by 
a  corresponding  increase  of  the  very  productive  field.  The 
continued  high  profits  and  high  wages  of  America,  then,  ap- 
pear to  rise  from  the  large  proportion  which,  in  America,  the 
field  of  production  continually  bears  to  capital  and  labour. 

In  England,  on  the  contrary,  the  field  of  production  is 
limited,  first  by  nature,  and  next  by  the  corn  laws,  which 
decree  that  the  people  of  the  United  Kingdom  shall  have  no 
bread  but  that  which  is  grown  in  the  United  Kingdom.  This 
limited  field,  moreover,  is  so  full  of  capitalists,  that  these, 
by  competing  with  each  other,  reduce  profits  to  a  very  low 
rate  ;  and  so  full  of  labourers,  that  these,  by  competing  with 
each  other,  reduce  wages  to  a  very  low  rate.  If  it  were 
not  for  this  severe  competition  among  capitalists,  a  greater 
difference  than  actually  exists  between  the  prices  of  Eng- 
lish and  American  corn  would  show  the  vast  difference 
between  the  natural  fertility  of  land  in  England  and  land  in 
America:  if  it  were  not  for  this  severe  competition  among 
labourers,  English  labour,  which  from  the  mode  in  which  it 
is  employed  is  so  much  more  productive  than  American 
labour,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  hands,  would  be 
better  paid,  instead  of  being  far  worse  paid  than  American 
labour.  In  England, both  classes,  capitalists  and  labourers, 
are  fighting  for  room.  Consequently,  it  may  be  said  that, 
in  England,  low  profits  and  low  wages  are  owing  to  the 
small  proportion  which  the  held  of  production  continually 
bears  to  capital  and  labour. 

But,  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  might  say  j  but  low  profits 
and  low  wages,  together,  have  occurred  in  England  before 
now,  w hen  the  proportion  of  capital  and  labour  to  the  field, 
as  \on  call  it,  was  much  less  than  it  is  a1  present.  How 
could  that  have  occurred  if,  as  you  Bay,  profits  and  wages 
depend  on  the  proportion  which  capital  and  labour  hear  to 
the  held  of  production  ?  Further,  the  cases  have  often  hap- 
pened of  low  wages  with  high  profits,  and  high  wages  with 
low  profit  .     Such  I  variance  with  yourtheory. 

So,  m)  lord;  nor  do  I  say  thai  profits  and  wages  depend 
solely  on  the   proportion   which  capital  and  labour  bear  to 


COINCIDENT    WITII    INDIVIDUAL    UNEASINESS.  83 

the  field  of  production.  But  I  will  try  to  explain  my  theory 
after  the  fashion  of  the  economists :  begging  such  readers 
as  find  this  note  dull  to  pass  on  to  the  next,  where  they 
will  find  some  urgent  reasons  for  turning  back  to  this  one. 

Capital  pays  labour,  and  labour  uses  capital.  Between 
these,  therefore,  there  is  an  intimate  relation.  The  propor- 
tion, also,  which  these  bear  to  each  other,  is  always  of  some 
importance ;  because,  whatever  the  produce  of  industry, 
the  division  of  that  produce  between  the  two  classes  who 
raise  it,  is  regulated  by  the  number  of  labourers  in  propor- 
tion to  the  capital  employed.  I  say  employed,  because 
capital  which  cannot  be  employed,  which  lies  idle  for  want 
of  employment,  is  as  if  it  did  not  exist.  When  labourers 
are  few  in  proportion  to  capital  for  which  there  is  employ- 
ment, the  labourer  exacts  a  large  share  of  the  produce, 
which  leaves  but  a  small  share  for  the  capitalist ;  and  when 
capital  is  small  in  proportion  to  labour,  the  capitalist  can  re- 
serve a  large  share  of  the  produce  for  himself,  leaving  but  a 
small  share  for  the  labourers.  So  far  the  political  economists ; 
and  so  far  both  profits  and  wages  depend  on  the  proportion 
between  labour  and  capital.  But  all  this  relates  to  nothing 
but  the  division  of  the  produce.  A  far  more  important 
question  remains — what  determines  the  amount  of  produce 
to  be  divided  ?  Suppose  the  shares  fixed  at  half  and  half: 
now  double  the  produce.  Profits  are  doubled  and  wages 
are  doubled  ;  the  capitalist  who  got  ten  per  cent,  now  gets 
twenty  per  cent. ;  the  labourer  who  got  two  shillings  a  day 
now  gets  four  shillings  a  day.  Messrs.  Mill  and  M'Culloch 
would  contend  that  wages  had  not  been  altered  ;  but  your 
friend  Mr.  Senior,  and  you,  my  lord,  would  say  that  wages 
had  been  altered  in  amount,  though  not  in  share.  Still,  with 
this  remark  you  would  rest  satisfied  ;  and  concerning  the 
effect  on  profits  of  doubling  the  produce  of  industry,  you 
would  say  nothing. 

Now  I  venture  to  suggest,  that  the  mere  division  of  pro- 
duce between  capitalists  and  labourers  is  a  matter  of  very 
small  moment,  indeed,  when  compared  with  the  amount  of 
produce  to  be  divided  ;  that,  whether  the  capitalist  obtain 
three-quarters  and  the  labourers  one-quarter,  or  the  labour- 
ers three-quarters  and  the  capitalist  one-quarter,  the  grand 
question  is,  how  much  do  the  two  parties  divide  between 
them  ?  By  discussing  the  question  of  shares  only,  all  that 
we  can  learn  is,  how  one  party  may  gain  by  the  other 
party's  loss  ;  by  discussing  the  question  of  amount,  we  may 
discover  what  is  that  state  of  things  most  beneficial  to  both 
parties.     By  dwelling  altogether  on  the  former  question,  we 


84  OVERFLOWING    NATIONAL    WEALTH 

make  bad  blood  between  the  two  classes  ;  telling  the 
capitalist  that  he  must  suffer  unless  his  labourers  be  misera- 
ble ;  assuring  the  labourer  that  his  sufferings  arise  from  his 
master's  prosperity :  by  examining  the  latter  question  we 
may  prove  that  masters  and  servants  have  one  and  the 
same  interest ;  that,  as  there  is  a  state  of  things  bad  for 
both  parties,  so  is  there  a  state  of  things  good  for  both 
parties.  And  this  latter  question  is  of  vast  practical  im- 
portance to  the  English  at  this  present  moment ;  when,  as 
I  have  endeavoured  to  show  in  the  succeeding  note,  there  is 
every  prospect  of  a  desperate  struggle  between  the  two 
parties,  who  have  been  set  against  each  other  by  being  told, 
that  the  welfare  of  either  party  is  incompatible  with  the 
welfare  of  the  other. 

The  productiveness  of  industry  depends  upon,  first,  the 
agency  of  nature,  that  is,  the  natural  quality  of  the  land 
from  which  subsistence  is  derived  ;  secondly,  upon  combina- 
tion of  power  for  distribution  of  employments,  which,  for 
shortness,  may  be  called  skill.  But  these  two  regulators  of 
production  have  a  tendency  to  act  in  opposite  directions. 
When  a  people  cultivate  land  of  very  great  natural  fertility, 
and  without  limit  as  to  space,  so  that  the  people  may  in- 
crease without  resorting  to  inferior  soils,  they  have  no  in- 
ducement to  employ  their  industry  in  the  most  skilful  way. 
On  the  contrary,  they  are  strongly  impelled  to  cut  up  their 
capital  and  labour  into  small  distinct  fractions.*  America 
is  the  example,  where  the  produce  raised  by  a  given  amount 
of  capital  and  labour,  though  sufficient  to  yield  high  profits 
and  high  wages,  is  not  equal  to  a  fourth,  perhaps,  of  what 
the  same  amount  of  capital  and  labour  would  produce  on 
the  same  land,  if  employed  with  English  skill.  To  proceed 
at  once  to  the  other  example,  a  produce  sufficient  to  feed 
the  actual  population  of  England,  could  not  have  been  raised 
in  England  without  the  greatest  skill  in  the  application  of 
capital  and  labour.  As  population  increased  in  a  country 
naturally  stcril  and  of  limited  extent,  industry  was  applied 
With  more  and  more  skill  to  the  cultivation  of  land  ;  and  the 
increase  of  skill  counteracted  thedecrease  of  natural  product- 
iveness when  capital  was  applied  to  waste  land  of  inferior 
quality,  or  more  capital  was  used  on  land  already  cultivated. 

But  though  greater  skill  counteract  the  growing  necessity 
of  employing  capita]  and  labour  with  less  and  less  assistance 
from  nature,  still,  in  the  long  run,  the  produce  obtained  with 

*  Sv.c  note  an  the  origin,  progrcKB,  nnd  ptDfpaoti  of  slavery  in  "America. 


COINCIDENT    WITH    INDIVIDUAL    UNEASINESS.  85 

the  maximum  of  skill  and  the  minimum  of  natural  fertility, 
will  not  be  more  than  sufficient  to  afford  inducements  for 
continuing  the  work  of  production.  The  amounts  of  pro- 
duce, indeed,  raised  by  equal  capitals  will  be  very  different, 
because  land  varies  in  natural  fertility  and  in  circumstances 
of  position,  such  as  vicinity  to  manure  and  a  market ;  but, 
as  those  who  cultivate  land  of  superior  qualityor  position, 
must  pay  to  the  owners  of  such  land,  as  a  premium  for  being 
allowed  to  use  it,  all  the  excess  of  produce  above  what 
suffices  to  replace  capital  with  ordinary  profits  (they  must 
do  this,  because  others  would  do  so  if  they  would  not),  the 
whole  produce  to  be  divided  between  capitalists  and  labour- 
ers is,  notwithstanding  the  greatest  skill,  reduced  to  the 
minimum. 

The  land,  therefore,  from  which  a  society  derives  its  food, 
constitutes  its  field  of  production ;  and  the  productiveness 
of  capital,  subject  to  the  temporary  effect  of  increasing  skill, 
depends  on  the  proportion  which  capital  bears  to  the  field 
in  which  it  is  employed. 

With  this  introduction,  the  four  following  cases  will  de- 
scribe all  the  common  conditions  of  society  which  exhibit 
different  rates  of  profit  and  wages. 

First.  The  case  in  which  capital  bears  a  large  propor- 
tion to  labour,  and  a  small  proportion  to  the  field  of  pro- 
duction. The  United  States  and  some  new  colonies  are 
the  examples.  In  this  case,  wages  are  high  in  share  and 
in  amount ;  profits  being,  though  low  in  share,  high  in 
amount. 

Secondly.  The  case  in  which  capital  bears  a  large  pro- 
portion to  labour,  and  also  a  large  proportion  to  the  field  of 
production.  High  wages  and  low  profits  will  be  the  result. 
This  was  the  case  in  France  towards  the  close  of  the  last 
war,  when  the  conscription  had  rendered  labourers  scarce  : 
more  than  once,  it  has  been  the  case  in  England  after  a 
pestilence. 

Thirdly.  The  case  in  wdiich  capital  bears  a  small  pro- 
portion to  labour,  and  also  a  small  proportion  to  the  field 
of  production.  Low  wages  and  high  profits  will  be  the 
result ;  the  produce  divided  being  great,  but  the  labourers' 
share  small.  This  is  the  case  of  nearly  all  countries  in 
which,  with  superabundance  of  labourers,  there  is  plenty 
of  room  for  the  employment  of  more  capital  without  any 
decrease  of  productiveness.  Bengal  is  a  good  example, 
where  wages  are  two-pence  a  day,  and  the  rate  of  interest 
twelve  per  cent. 


S6  OVERFLOWING    NATIONAL    WEALTH 

Fourthly.  The  case  in  which  capital  bears  a  small  pro- 
portion to  labour,  and  a  great  proportion  to  the  field  of  pro- 
duction. This  case  gives  low  profits  and  low  wages  also  ; 
the  whole  produce  of  industry  to  be  divided  among  the  pro- 
ducers being  reduced  to  the  minimum.  France  may  be  an 
example  of  this  case. 

But  these  are  common  cases.  The  present  case  of  Eng- 
land differs  from  all  of  these,  in  as  much  as  we  cannot  say 
that  English  capital  bears  a  small  proportion  to  English 
labour ;  seeing  that,  in  consequence  of  the  very  high  pro- 
portion which  English  capital  bears  to  the  field  of  produc- 
tion, great  masses  of  capital  lie  idle,  are  invested  unproduct- 
ively,  that  is,  wasted,  and  are  exported  to  other  countries, 
not  taking  with  them  a  corresponding  amount,  or  any 
amount,  of  English  labour.  The  same  thing  appears  to 
have  occurred  formerly  in  Genoa,  Venice,  and  Holland. 

The  case  of  England  differs  from  all  other  actual  cases  in 
a  very  important  particular.  Political  economists  have 
described  three  states  of  society,  the  progressive,  the  sta- 
tionary, and  the  retrograde.  They  call  progressive  that 
state  of  society  in  which  both  capital  and  the  field  of  pro- 
duction increase  as  fast  as  population  can  possibly  increase ; 
so  that  profits  and  wages,  both  being  constantly  high, 
whatever  the  division  of  produce,  the  people  increase  as 
fast  as  possible.  They  call  stationary  that  condition  of 
society  in  which  there  is  no  further  room  for  the  product- 
ive employment  of  industry,  in  which  case,  profits  and 
wages  are  constantly  as  low  as  possible.  They  call  the 
retrograde  state  of  society  that  in  which,  generally  from 
moral  causes,  the  field  of  production  constantly  decreases; 
in  which  case,  not  only  are  profits  and  wages  constantly  at 
the  minimum,  but  every  year  some  capitalists  arc  reduced 
to  the  state  of  labourers;  and,  yet  the  labouring  class 
becomes  less  and  less  numerous.  The  Venetian  republic, 
when  she  lost  the  trade  between  Europe  and  Asia,  was  an 
example'  of  this  case:  was  not  Holland  in  political  convul- 
sions another  ? 

There  appears  to  be  a  fourth  state  of  society,  which  may 
be  called  stationary  as  to  profits  and  wages,  but  which  is 
progressive  as  to  the  amount  of  capital,  the  extent  of  the 
field  for  employing  industry,  and  the  number  of  people. 

The  field,  the  capital,  and  the] pie,  may  increase ;  ye1  if 

the  enlargement  «»l  the  field  be  ool  more  rapid  than  the 
increase  of  capital,  do  alteration  of  profits  will  occur;  nor 
any  alteration  of  wages,  unless  the  field  be  enlarged   and 


COINCIDENT    WITH    INDIVIDUAL    UNEASINESS.  87 

capital  be  increased,  at  the  same  time,  more  rapidly  than 
people  shall  increase.  Though,  in  such  a  state  of  society, 
both  capitalists  and  labourers  will  increase  in  number, 
though  new  means  of  communication  will  be  opened,  though 
fresh  towns  will  arise,  though  the  increase  of  population 
and  of  national  wealth  may  be  striking,  nevertheless  the 
rate  of  profits  may  still  be  low,  the  rate  of  wages  but  just 
sufficient  to  permit  an  increase  of  labourers,  the  majority  of 
capitalists  in  a  state  of  uneasiness,  and  the  whole  body  of 
labourers  miserable  and  degraded.  This  has  been  the  case 
of  England  since  1815.  "War  ceasing,  great  masses  of  cap- 
ital were  no  longer  wasted  every  year,  but  were  accumu- 
lated in  England  ;  new  channels  of  investment  were  opened ; 
the  number  of  capitalists  was  visibly  augmented  ;  signs  of 
increasing  wealth  appeared  ill  all  directions ;  but  as  the 
field  of  production  was  not  enlarged  so  rapidly  as  capital 
increased,  more  and  more  competition  among  capitalists 
led  to  the  lowest  rate  of  profit,  and  made  the  condition  of 
the  greater  number  worse  than  that  of  the  smaller  number. 
So  with  respect  to  the  labouring  class ;  with  the  peace, 
which  removed  one  check  to  the  increase  of  people,  came 
great  improvements  in  medicine,  which  removed  other 
checks ;  and  the  common  people  increased  faster  than  the 
means  of  employment  for  increasing  capital.  In  a  word, 
both  the  capital  and  the  people  increased  faster  than  the 
field  of  production  was  enlarged.  This  change  of  the  pro- 
portion between  two  of  the  elements  of  production  and  the 
third  or  chief  element,  explains  the  coincidence  of  enormous, 
nay,  of  rapidly  increasing  national  wealth,  with  the  uneasi- 
ness of  the  middle  class  and  the  misery  of  the  bulk  of  the 
people. 

The  moral  and  strictly  political  effects  of  the  various 
proportions  which  the  field  of  production  bears  to  capital 
and  population,  must  now  be  briefly  considered. 

In  the  progressive  state  of  society,  capital  has  a  tendency 
to  an  equal  distribution  among  all  the  people.  In  America, 
notwithstanding  high  profits,  individuals  seldom  accumulate 
large  fortunes.  Though  the  produce  divided  between  the 
capitalist  and  the  labourer  be  large,  the  labourer  takes  so 
great  a  share  that  he  soon  becomes  a  capitalist.  Under 
this  most  progressive  state  of  society,  therefore,  the  increase 
of  capital  is  divided,  pretty  equally,  among  a  number  of 
capitalists  increasing  at  the  same  rate  as  the  capital ;  so 
that  while  none  are  compelled  to  work  as  servants  through 
life,  few,  even  of  those  whose  lives  are  unusually  long,  can 


88  OVERFLOWING    NATIONAL    WEALTH 

accumulate  great  masses  of  wealth.  Moreover,  in  such  a 
state  of  things,  the  independence  and  self-respect  of  all  be- 
gets a  love  of  equality,  and  thus  conduces  to  the  equal  dis- 
tribution of  the  capitalist's  wealth  among  his  children ;  so 
that  an  individual  seldom  inherits  the  savings  of  many 
generations,  or  even  the  bulk  of  his  father's  property.  In 
this  state  of  things,  there  is  no  idle  class,  no  spending  class, 
as  Captain  Hall  has  remarked,  no  adoration  of  wealth,  no 
oppression  of  the  poor,  no  reason  for  political  discontent. 
This  appears  to  be  the  happiest  state  of  society  consistent 
with  the  institution  of  property. 

In  those  states  of  society  which  are  cither  retrograde  or 
stationary,  as  well  as  in  that  peculiar  state  which,  though 
advancing  in  the  aggregate  of  wealth,  gives  low  profits  and 
low  wages,  wealth  inevitably  accumulates  in  a  few  hands. 
Wages  being  extremely  low,  the  great  body  of  the  people 
are  unable  to  save;  and  profits  being  extremely  low,  small 
capitalists  consume  the  whole,  or  nearly  the  whole,  of  what 
remains  to  them  after  replacing  their  capital.  Some,  indeed, 
appear  to  be  employed  in  diminishing  their  capital.  Mr. 
Mill  has  incidentally  supposed  the  case,  in  which  none  but 
large  capitalists  should  be  able  to  save,  or  even  to  live,  on 
the  profits  of  capital :  in  which  society  should  consist  only 
of  labourers  and  great  capitalists.*  These  last,  whose  con- 
sumption is  small  when  compared  with  the  returns  of  their 
large  capitals,  even  with  very  low  profits,  are  able  to  accu- 
mulate in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  their  wealth.  In  the 
next  place,  when  the  common  rate  of  profit  is  low,  the 
small  capitalist  is  apt  to  be  ruined  by  fluctuations  in  trade, 
which  are  the  periods  of  harvest  to  the  great  capitalist,  who 
can  wait  to  buy  when  the  market  price  is  low,  and  to  sell 
when  it  is  high.  When,  too,  the  common, rate  of  profits  is 
low,  great  capitalists  are  not  always  subject  to  the  law  of 
competition.  In  some  operations,  such  for  example  as  the 
distillation  of  spirits,  porter  brewing,  tanning,  and  the  pub- 
lication of  a  daily  newspaper  heavily  taxed,  the  amount  of 
capital  required  is  so  large,  and  the  time  when  a  return 
may  be  expected  so  distant,  that  no  small  capitalists  can 
undertake  one  of  them  with  a  prospect  of  advantage.  Such 
operations  can  be  conducted  only  by  the  owners  of  large 

»  "  In  proportion  u  capital  is  attended  with  less  and  less  of  annua]  return, 
the  ownon  of  capital  have  leea  and  leai  income.  It  the  income  from  capital 
be  continually  <ii!  ol  time  none  but  the  owners  of  targe 

mastex  "f  capital  will  derive  from  it  the  metau  of  .mhsittencc." — Milt's  Ele- 
ments 0/ Political  Economy,  pago  61,  Jd  edit. 


COINCIDENT    WITH    INDIVIDUAL    UNEASINESS.  89 

capitals,  who  thus  establish  monopolies  whereby  they  ob- 
tain profits  somewhat  above  the  common  rate.  Again, 
when  wages  and  profits  are  low  in  consequence  of  the  large 
proportion  which  capital  and  people  bear  to  the  field  of 
production,  a  part  of  the  produce  of  industry  falls  to  the 
owners  of  land,  both  as  landlords  and  capitalists  ;  a  class 
who,  speaking  generally,  disdain  the  pursuits  of  industry, 
and  who  in  most  countries  have  made  laws  for  the  descent 
of  land,  and  of  capital  fixed  on  land,  which  promote  the 
accumulation  of  wealth  in  a  few  hands.  When,  further, 
low  wages  and  low  profits  condemn  the  bulk  of  the  people 
to  want,  and  all  small  capitalists  to  distress  or  vexation, 
wealth  obtains  such  inordinate  respect  and  so  many  advan- 
tages over  and  above  what  wealth  will  purchase  in  any 
market,  that  slavishness  on  the  one  hand,  and  pride  on  the 
other,  become  habitual.  And  to  these  evils  must  be  added, 
the  corruption  of  idleness,  grasping  and  gambling  habits, 
which  lead  to  dishonesty  among  the  middle  class,  and 
savage  discontent  among  those  who  are  without  hope. 
Thus  the  retrograde  or  stationary  condition  presents  at  the 
same  moment  gorgeous  palaces  and  wretched  hovels,  com- 
plete idleness  and  incessant  toil,  high  mental  cultivation 
and  the  most  barbarous  ignorance  :  it  cannot  but  produce  a 
general  corruption  of  morals,  nor  end,  sooner  or  later,  but 
in  violent  political  convulsions. 

Not  only  the  coincidence  of  misery  and  uneasiness  with 
enormous  wealth,  but  all  the  most  striking  social  peculiarities 
of  England  may  be  traced  to  a  superabundance  of  capital 
and  population  in  proportion  to  the  means  of  employing 
capital  and  labour.  Nay,  it  might  perhaps  be  shown,  by 
reference  to  history,  that  the  decline  and  fall  of  empires 
have,  in  great  measure,  been  owing  to  the  excess  of  two  of 
the  elements  of  production  over  the  third  ;  which  dispro- 
portion throws  great  part  of  the  national  wealth  into  the 
hands  of  an  idle  class,  producing  an  extreme  inequality  of 
conditions,  and  therefore  an  extreme  corruption  of  morals, 
with  pride,  insolence,  and  cruelty  on  the  side  of  the  wealthy 
few,  discontent  and  recklessness  on  the  part  of  the  suffering 
many ;  and  resulting,  finally,  in  jealousies,  divisions,  com- 
motion, and  civil  wars,  which  dry  up  the  very  springs  of 
national  greatness. 

12 


(90) 


NOTE  V. 

POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

Retrospect — The  constitution  of  1688 — Its  merits  and  defects — Maintained 
by  corruption — Populace  subservient  to  the  ruling  class — Effects  of 
knowledge — On  the  middle  class — On  the  poor — History  of  the  late 
change  in  the  constitution — New  constitution  obtained  by  the  physical 
force — New  constitution  described — Not  likely  to  last — Dangers  in  the 
prospect  of  change — Democracy  or  worse,  apparently  inevitable- — Dangers 
of  democracy — Possible  means  of  avoiding  the  probable  evils  of  change — 
Christian  legislation — Means  of  improving  the  physical  condition  of  the 
bulk  of  the  people,  and  of  removing  the  uneasiness  of  the  middle  class. 

In  order  to  take  a  just  view  of  the  political  prospects  of 
the  English,  we  must  look  back  a  little  ;  besides  observing 
carefully  by  what  means  was  brought  about  that  peaceful, 
but  very  difficult  political  change,  that  most  pregnant  rev- 
olution which  has  just  taken  place  in  England. 

The  theory  of  the  English  government,  as  settled  by  the 
revolution  of  1688,  was  this : — three  powers  in  one  power  ; 
the  king  one  power,  the  lords  one  power,  and  the  commons 
one  power ;  but  the  power  of  the  king,  of  the  lords,  and  of 
the  commons,  is  all  one,  co-existent  and  co-equal :  the  king 
powerful,  the  lords  powerful,  and  the  commons  powerful ; 
and  yet  there  are  not  three  powers,  but  one  power.  And 
in  this  trinity,  none  is  afore  or  after  the  other,  none  is  greater 
or  less  than  another  ;  but  the  whole  three  powers  are  co- 
existent together  and  co-equal.  Nevertheless,  though  all 
laws  must  have  the  consent  of  king,  lords,  and  commons, 
the  king  cannot  originate  any  laws,  nor  the  lords  any  laws 
relating  to  taxes  ;  while  the  king  is  the  sole  executor  of  the 
laws.  But  the  king  can  do  no  wrong;  his  ministers, alone, 
being  responsible  for  his  acts.      Furthermore,  the   king's 

f)ower  descends  from  father  to  son  ;  as  does  that  of  the 
ords  ;  and  the  king  can  create  lords  without  any  limit  as 
to  number.  Lastly,  the  commons  represent  the  whole 
nation,  save  the  king  and  lords,  in  parliament  assembled. 

This  is  the  theory  of  the  English  constitution,  as  settled 
in  ic>s>.  The  practice  of  that  constitution  has  been  as 
follows. 

Since  no  operation  of  government  can  be  conducted 
without  money,  the  commons,  who  hold  the  public  purse, 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OP    THE    ENGLISH.  91 

have  been  omnipotent.  They  have  possessed  the  power 
to  make  whatever  laws  they  pleased,  and  to  compel  the 
execution  of  such  laws  in  whatever  manner  they  pleased. 
What  things  they  have  done  by  the  exercise  of  that  power, 
or  left  undone  by  abstaining  from  the  exercise  of  it,  is  quite 
another  question,  depending  on  the  motives  by  which  they 
were  actuated.  They  may  have  chosen  to  agree  with  the 
king  and  the  lords,  or  occasionally  to  disagree  with  them, 
to  enlarge  or  curtail  the  royal  functions,  to  restrict  or  ex- 
tend popular  rights ;  but,  whatever  may  have  been  their 
inclinations,  whatever  their  acts,  they  have  never  wanted 
power  to  do  as  they  pleased. 

This  is  the  first  great  difference  between  the  theory  and 
practice  of  the  English  constitution.  The  next  is,  that  the 
commons,  instead  of  representing  the  whole  nation,  save 
the  king  and  lords,  have  been  partly  self-elected,  partly 
nominated  by  individual  lords,  and  partly  chosen  by  certain 
bodies  of  the  people.  The  rights  of  self-election  and  of 
nomination  were  bought  and  sold  like  an  estate,  and  de- 
scended along  with  estates  ;  while  the  open  elections  were 
so  costly  to  the  candidates  that  none  but  rich  men  could  be 
chosen.  The  whole  power,  therefore,  of  the  English  gov- 
ernment resided  in  a  few  hundred  men,  who  had  the  incli- 
nation and  the  wealth  to  buy  seats  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, either  for  themselves  or  their  dependents.  That 
government  has  been  called  the  oligarchy  of  borough- 
mongers. 

Seeing  how  this  oligarchy  was  constituted,  its  motives 
for  doing  certain  things,  and  for  leaving  other  things 
undone,  become  plain  enough.  This  would  have  differed 
from  all  other  oligarchies,  if  the  main  object  of  its  members 
had  not  been  to  share  among  themselves  the  emoluments 
and  distinctions  of  government.  Monarchy  being  a  costly 
form  of  government,  requiring  a  great  outlay  to  maintain 
the  dignity  of  the  crown,  opens  a  wide  field  of  emolument: 
the  English  boroughmongers,  therefore,  have  always  been 
strongly  attached  to  the  monarchical  form  of  government. 
Titles  of  honour  are  among  the  distinctions  enjoyed  by  a 
governing  class,  and  it  is  natural  that  he  who  has  himself 
delighted  in  a  title  of  honour  should  wish  to  transmit  it  to 
his  posterity :  the  English  boroughmongers,  therefore,  have 
always  been  fond  of  an  hereditary  nobility.  But  a  mere 
title,  such  as  lord,  or  three-tailed  bashaw,  or  blue  buttoned 
mandarin,  would  not  be  much  esteemed  unless  there  were 
attached  to  it,  not  only  real  power,  but  also  the  appearance 


92  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

of  power.  Now,  of  the  English  boroughmongers  a  good 
proportion  were  peers,  who  exercised  real  power  by  means 
of  their  dependents  in  the  House  of  Commons;  but,  as  this 
was,  as  far  as  possible,  to  be  concealed  from  the  nation, 
they  could  not  appear  to  exercise  power  without  a  legisla- 
tive assembly  of  their  own  :  the  English  boroughmongers, 
therefore,  have  always  warmly  approved  of  a  noble  cham- 
ber, in  which  the  appearance  of  making  laws  should  de- 
scend along  with  titles  of  honour.  As  wealth  was  the 
source  of  each  man's  power  in  the  government  of  borough- 
mongers, each  boroughmonger  wished  that  his  wealth  should 
go  down  to  his  posterity  undiminished :  hence  the  pro- 
found attachment  of  English  boroughmongers  to  entails  and 
the  law  of  primogeniture.  But  rich  men,  like  poor  men, 
have  daughters  and  younger  sons :  how  was  the  rich  bor- 
oughmonger to  provide  for  these  without  diminishing  his 
wealth  ?  Out  of  the  public  purse,  over  which,  either  by 
sitting  in  the  House  of  Commons,  self-elected,  or  by  means 
of  his  dependents  who  sat  there,  he  exercised  a  large  share 
of  control.  Boroughs  were  dear  and  elections  very  costly : 
a  snug  borough  cost  near  100,000/.,  and  one  man  has  spent 
100,000/.  on  one  county  election :  how  were  such  vast  sums 
to  be  recovered  ?  The  public  purse  was  always  at  hand. 
Hence  one  learns  why  the  English  people,  who  according 
to  the  theory  of  their  constitution  were  all  represented  by 
the  House  of  Commons,  have,  in  practice,  been  so  heavily 
taxed  by  that  assembly. 

Oligarchy  and  faction  are  almost  synonymous  terms ; 
first,  as  every  oligarchy  is  a  faction,  and  next,  as  oligarchies 
have  always  been  divided  into  opposing  factions.  From 
1688  to  1830,  the  whig  and  tory  factions  of  the  English 
oligarchy  ruled  by  turns,  one  in  and  the  other  out,  as  the 
force  of  either  party  prevailed  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
But  their  struggles  for  emolument  and  distinctions,  instead 
of  weakening  the  government,  added  considerably  to  its 
strength.  The  party  that  was  out  commonly  found  fault 
with  the  party  thai  was  in,  took  up  national  grievances  and 
made  great  professions  of  public  virtue  :  whence,  as  one 
party  was  always  out,  the  nation  always  imagined  that  a 
portion  of  the  legislature  was  singly  devoted  to  the  national 
welfare.  When  the  party  thai  was  out  became  the  most 
powerful  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  therefore  got  in, 
the  king  appeared  to  side  with  thai  party,  and  the  nation 
rejoiced  in  a  patriotic  monarch.  Now  and  then,  one  faction 
was  strongest  in  the  commons'  house  and  the  other  in  the 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH.  93 

lords'  house,  whence  differences  between  the  two  houses, 
which  gave  to  the  lords'  house  an  air  of  independence  ; 
an  occasional  appearance  which  assisted  in  holding  the 
nation  to  the  constitutional  faith.  Such  differences,  how- 
ever, could  never  be  serious  or  of  long  duration,  because  the 
faction  which  ruled  in  the  commons  could  always  exercise, 
in  the  king  s  name,  the  power  of  creating  peers.  At  other 
times,  the  king  disagreed  with  the  ruling  faction  and  dis- 
solved the  House  of  Commons,  when  a  grand  election 
struggle  took  place  between  the  two  parties  ;  but  which- 
ever party  bought  the  greater  number  of  votes  in  the  new 
House  of  Commons,  became  master  of  the  government, 
or  rather  the  government  itself;  so  that,  though  the  king 
occasionally  exerted  a  will  of  his  own,  his  independence 
was  but  momentary.  A  dissolution  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons was  always  called  an  appeal  to  the  nation :  thus, 
whenever  the  king  exerted  an  independent  will,  the  nation 
appeared  to  do  so  likewise  ;  thus  an  occasional  difference 
between  the  king  and  the  ruling  faction,  by  giving  an  air 
of  independence  to  the  king,  and  an  air  of  power  to  the 
people,  tended  to  preserve  the  nation's  belief  in  the  reality 
and  beauty  of  the  constitution.  When  a  petty  disagree- 
ment occurred  among  the  three  estates,  the  nation  admired 
the  beautiful  balance  of  the  constitution  ;  and  when  such  a 
disagreement  ceased,  the  beautiful  harmony  of  the  constitu- 
tion was  the  thing  to  be  admired.  By  such  fictions  and 
phrases,  the  real  oligarchy  of  boroughmongers  was  made 
to  pass  for  an  inimitable  mixed  government,  the  envy  and 
admiration  of  surrounding  countries. 

And  in  truth  this  counterfeit  mixture  of  monarchy,  aristo- 
cracy, and  democracy,  was  the  best  government  ever  estab- 
lished in  Europe.  Though  the  powers  of  government 
rested  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  those  few  owed  their  power  to 
wealth,  and  any  one  who  could  acquire  great  wealth  might 
help  to  govern.  The  qualification  for  the  enjoyment  of 
power  being  wealth,  it  was  natural  that  the  government 
should  take  great  care  of  the  wealthy.  Moreover,  as  at  all 
times  many  of  those  who  governed  had  lately  sprung  from 
an  inferior  class,  it  was  natural  that  they  should  sympathize 
with  a  class  or  two  below  them.  The  English  government, 
accordingly,  ever  since  it  became  an  oligarchy  of  borough- 
mongers,  has  provided  better  than  any  other  government  of 
Europe  for  the  security  of  property  and  persons. 

Security  of  property  !  personal  safety  !  What  more  could 
be   asked  of   any  government  ?     Not   much  ;    for  these 


94  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

are  the  chief  ends  of  government.  Why  then  were  the 
English  dissatisfied  with  their  glorious  constitution  ?  why 
have  they  lately  made  another  of  a  very  different  character  ? 
These  questions  will  be  answered  by  stating  in  what  respect, 
chiefly,  the  constitution  was  not  a  good  one  ;  secondly,  by 
describing  the  means  of  its  preservation  ;  and  thirdly,  by 
showing  how  the  force  on  which  it  depended  was  gradually 
destroyed. 

The  old  English  constitution  gave  security  to  property, 
with  safety  to  persons,  according  to  a  scale,  by  which  the 
security  and  safety  were  bestowed  in  proportion  to  wealth. 
Justice  was  made  exceedingly  dear.  Thus,  though  there 
was  justice  for  all  who  could  buy  it,  there  was  none  for 
those  who  could  not  ;  and  among  those  who  could  pay  for 
it,  there  was  most  for  him  who  could  pay  most.  As  between 
two  persons  of  equal  wealth,  law  was  justice,  though  dear  ; 
as  between  two  persons  of  unequal  wealth,  law  was  in- 
justice. In  the  attack  and  defence  of  persons  and  property, 
law,  miscalled  justice,  favoured  the  richer  party,  whether 
he  attacked  another  wrongfully  or  defended  his  own  right ; 
and  was,  to  the  same  extent  of  course,  unfavourable  to  the 
poorer  party,  whether  he  were  right  or  wrong.  Down  the 
scale  of  wealth,  there  was  an  active  principle  of  wrong, 
and  up  the  scale  of  wealth,  a  defensive  principle  of  right. 
He  who  was  at  the  top  of  the  scale  could  injure  the  others, 
who  could  not  injure  him  ;  those  who  were  at  the  bottom  of 
the  scale  could  not  injure  the  others,  but  might  be  injured 
by  them.  These  were  the  principles  on  which  the  old  Eng- 
lish constitution  afforded  protection  to  persons  and  property. 
Recollecting  how  much  the  happiness  of  man  in  society 
depends  on  the  administration  of  law,  it  will  appear  that  in 
this  respect  the  old  English  constitution  was  a  very  bad  one. 

That  constitution  bestowed  upon  superior  wealth  many 
privileges,  some  hurtful  to  the  majority  and  in  themselves 
odious,  others  odious  merely  as  privileges  bestowed  upon 
wealth.  Under  that  constitution,  the  rich  alone  could  obtain 
the  higher  emoluments,  distinctions,  and  other  gratifications 
of  power;  could  receive  titles  of  honour  ;  could  make  laws  in 
the  House  of  Commons:  could  enjoy  or  give  places,  and  re- 
ceive or  bestow  pensions  ;  could  administer  rural  laws,  after 
making  them  ;  could  manage  roads  at  the  public  expense, 
and  stop  roads  convenient,  to  the  public  ;  could  build,  fill, 
and  govern  jails;  could  keep  '.'.line,  shoot  other  people's 
game,  and  transport  other  people  for  shooting  their  game  ; 
could  be  married  in  a  particular  way,  and  be  divorced  from 


POLITICAL   PROSPECTS   OP   THE    ENGLISH.  95 

their  wives  ;  could  have  their  children  educated  at  a  par- 
ticular place  at  the  public  expense  ;  could  appoint  religious 
teachers ;  could  fix  rates  of  wages,  saying  to  the  poor — 
*  You  shall  marry,  and  you  shall  remain  asunder :  you  who 
are  married  shall  not  live  together ;"  with  many  more  pri- 
vileges, so  far  of  a  like  kind  as  to  be  obviously  unfair. 
What  privilege,  indeed,  is  free  from  injustice  ?  Whichsoever 
of  these  privileges  was  most  hurtful  to  the  nation,  all  of 
them  were  calculated  to  excite  hatred  towards  the  privileged 
class ;  and  though  that  curious  machine,  the  constitution, 
would  have  been  less  productive,  would  not  have  worked, 
perhaps,  without  them,  they  were  very  proper  to  bring 
about  a  revolution  sooner  or  later. 

The  existence  of  every  government  of  the  many  by  a 
few  must  depend  upon  some  kind  of  force,  wherewith  to 
secure  the  obedience  of  the  many.  The  most  common 
force  of  government  has  been  a  body  of  guards,  assisted  by 
a  body  of  spies.  This,  however,  was  not  the  force  of  the 
old  English  constitution,  which,  out  of  regard  to  the  liberty 
of  the  subject  having  property,  was  always  opposed  to 
standing  armies  and  political  police.  The  force  of  the  old 
English  constitution  was  corruption ;  an  engine  of  great 
power,  and  one  admirably  fitted  in  this  case  to  the  machine 
that  it  was  employed  to  work.  The  oligarchy,  which  under 
the  name  of  a  mixed  government  was  set  up  in  France 
eighteen  years  ago,  has  been  worked  by  an  engine  of  this 
sort ;  but  not  well.  In  material  mechanism,  simplicity  is  a 
great  merit ;  in  political  machinery,  having  for  object  to 
keep  many  in  subjection  to  a  few,  the  grand  point  is  com- 
plication. In  the  French  oligarchy,  there  was  a  sad  want 
of  entanglement ;  and  then  the  French  corruption  was  all 
of  one  sort,  obvious  to  the  most  careless  observer.  In 
France,  political  corruption  was  a  species  of  force  ;  in 
England,  a  genus,  comprehending  many  species.  Of  that 
kind  of  corruption  which  was  unique  in  France,  namely, 
expenditure  of  public  money  by  the  government,  there  was 
plenty  in  England  ;  but  this,  great  as  it  appears  when  com- 
pared with  the  expenditure  of  other  governments,  seems 
small  when  compared  with  the  great  mass  of  jobs  and 
monopolies  by  which  it  was  assisted.  Small,  however,  as 
it  appears  in  this  point  of  view,  it  was  mighty  by  the  man- 
ner of  applying  it.  The  public  income  of  France  was 
divided  among  the  public  servants  on  these  two  erroneous 
principles  ;  first,  that  every  one  should  work  for  his  pay  ; 


96  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

secondly,  that  all  public  servants  should  be  paid  sufficiently. 
The  principles,  on  the  contrary,  which  directed  the  public  ex- 
penditure of  England,  were,  first,  that  many  should  be  paid 
who  did  not  work  at  all ;  secondly,  that  those  who  worked 
least  should  be  paid  the  most,  and  those  who  worked  most,  the 
least.  The  churches  of  the  two  countries  give  a  good  ex- 
ample of  the  operation  of  these  opposite  principles.  In  the 
French  church,  none  were  idle  ;  all  the  hard  working  clergy 
received  comfortable  incomes  ;  and  the  income  of  a  bishop 
was  not  more  than  seven  or  eight  times  as  much  as  that  of 
a  curate.  In  the  English  church,  large  incomes  were  given 
to  clergymen  who  seldom  entered  a  church,  and  never  either 
a  pulpit  or  a  cottage  ;  the  hard  working  clergy  were  kept 
in  a  state  of  want  ;  and  the  income  of  many  a  bishop  was 
equal  to  the  united  incomes  of  three  or  four  hundred  curates. 
Thus,  in  the  French  church,  there  were  no  great  prizes  by 
which  strong  and  ambitious  spirits  might  be  attached  to  the 
established  order  of  things;  nor  were  clergymen  ot  moderate 
disposition  and  talents  urged,  either  by  poverty  or  the  hope 
of  riches,  to  curry  favour  with  the  ruling  class.  The 
strong  and  ambitious  spirits  of  the  French  church,  accord- 
ingly, instead  of  supporting  the  Hartwell  charter, spared  no 
pains  to  overturn  it,  while  French  clergymen  of  moderate 
disposition  and  talents  were  content  to  vegetate,  comfortably 
indifferent  touching  questions  of  government.  Now  turn 
to  England  :  here  the  most  able  and  ambitious  of  the  clergy, 
desiring  either  to  keep  or  obtain  great  prizes  in  the  church, 
supported  the  constitution  with  all  their  might,  while  clergy- 
men of  moderate  temper  and  abilities  could  obtain  com- 
fortable incomes  only  by  siding  with  one  or  other  of  the 
state  factions,  and  zealously  supporting  the  constitution,  to 
which  both  factions  were  equally  attached.  The  contrast 
is  remarkable,  and  helps  to  explain  why  the  charter  of 
William  III.  lasted  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  longer 
than  the  charter  of  Louis  XVIII.  It  does  but  help,  how- 
ever, towards  this  explanation ;  as  the  clergy  of  England 
did  but  help  tn  support  the  constitution.  The  two  prin- 
ciples of  sinecures,  and  of  much  pay  for  little  work  and 
much  work  for  little  pay,  were  adopted  in  every  depart- 
mriii  of  the  public  expenditure;  in  the  military  and  civil 
branches  of  the  army  and  navy,  and  the  distribution  of 
prize  money,  in  the  administration  of  law,  in  public  educa- 
tion, in  the  diplomatic  service,  in  the  collection  of  the 
revenue,  in  all  public  offices,  and  in  the  management  of  the 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH.  97 

colonies,  not  forgetting  Ireland.  Thus  a  great  body  of  the 
people  were  induced,  some  by  the  desire  of  gain  and  some 
by  the  fear  of  loss,  to  stand  by  the  glorious  constitution. 
If  none  had  been  paid  who  did  not  work,  and  all  who 
worked  had  received  moderate  but  sufficient  pay,  those 
who  were  able  and  ambitious  might  have  longed  for  a 
change,  and  the  remainder  might  have  wanted  a  motive  for 
zeal  in  support  of  things  as  they  were.  Inequality  is  the 
soul  of  political  corruption. 

But  the  corruption  depending  on  a  judicious  outlay  of 
public  money  in  the  way  of  pensions  and  places,  was  small 
when  compared  with  that  which  arose  out  of  jobs  and  mo- 
nopolies. This  distinction  may  be  drawn  between  a  job  and 
a  monopoly,  that  the  one  is  a  direct,  the  other  an  indirect, 
robbery  of  the  public.  Under  the  old  English  constitution, 
the  public  was  robbed  directly  by  several  classes  of  jobs  ; 
jobs  in  respect  to  contracts  for  supplies,  loans,  and  public 
works,  victualling  jobs,  slopping  jobs,  scrip  jobs,  building 
jobs,  harbour,  road,  bridge,  and  canal  jobs,  and  other  jobs  of 
the  same  class  without  end ;  the  effect  of  each  of  these 
jobs  being,  that  the  government  paid  more  than  would  have 
sufficed  if  the  contracts  had  been  submitted  to  open  com- 
petition ;  that  the  difference  between  the  necessary  and 
actual  expenditure  was  so  much  public  plunder  bestowed 
on  friends  of  the  glorious  constitution.  Next,  there  were 
more  palpable  jobs  ; — such  as  when  crown  lands  were  sold 
or  let  for  much  less  than  their  value,  when  the  government 
purchased  land  for  more  than  its  value,  when  grants  of 
public  money  were  made  to  reward,  in  name,  public  services, 
in  reality  devotion  to  the  constitution  ;  when  public  works 
were  undertaken,  either  useless  or  hurtful  to  the  public,  or 
when  commissioners  were  appointed  to  perform  certain 
acts,  and  handsomely  paid  for  doing  nothing.  All  these 
are  but  a  sample  of  the  jobbing  that  took  place  under  the 
old  English  constitution.  Now  observe,  if  the  whole  of 
what  was  stolen  from  the  public,  by  means  of  all  these  jobs, 
had  been  spent  honestly  in  the  public  service,  the  constitu- 
tion would  have  wanted  the  zealous  support  of  a  great 
band  of  robbers,  delighted  with  the  present  and  fearful  of 
change.  Really,  the  old  constitution  is  to  be  admired  more 
for  its  roguery  than  its  profusion. 

Next  come  monopolies  ;  and,  first,  monopolies  of  trade, 
exclusive  power  to  deal  with  particular  countries  or  in 
particular  articles,  such  as  of  late  years,  the  East  India 
Company,  the  Bank  of  England,  the  West  India  planters' 

13 


98  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

monopoly  of  the  British  market,  and  the  corn  monopoly  of 
the  landlords,  which  is  the  greatest  of  all :  secondly,  mo- 
nopolies of  quite  another  kind,  such  as  that  of  the  bar,  which 
bestows  on  a  particular  class  the  privilege  of  pleading  in 
the  courts,  and  that  which  almost  forbids  a  barrister  even 
to  practise  in  certain  courts  unless  he  can  afford  to  pay  for 
chambers  in  certain  spots,  where,  of  course,  chambers  are 
extremely  dear  ;  that  other  monopoly  of  the  law  by  which 
1,200/.  must  be  paid  as  an  apprentice  fee  for  liberty  to  prac- 
tise in  some  very  important  courts  ;*  the  military  monopoly 
arising  from  the  system  of  purchasing  commissions,  and 
very  many  more  of  which  a  naked  list  would  fill  several 
pages.  The  principle  of  monopoly  seems  to  be  : — gain  with 
one  hand  and  lose  with  the  other  ;  you  rob  me,  and  I  rob 
you.  Englishmen  who  gain  by  those  monopolies  in  which 
they  had  a  share,  lost  by  others  in  which  they  had  no  share. 
But  the  gain  was  manifest,  while  the  loss  was  imperceptible  : 
there  was  the  pleasure  of  robbing,  without  the  pain  of  know- 
ing that  you  were  robbed.  So  much  for  individual  feeling ; 
but  now  observe  the  political  influence  of  monopolies.  Of 
the  loss,  which  was  hidden,  no  one  took  note ;  but  the  gain 
was  felt,  joyfully  felt,  and  attributed,  with  gratitude,  to  the 
inimitable  constitution.  Adding  to  the  long  list  of  simple 
jobs  and  pure  monopolies,  a  multitude  of  establishments, 
half  job,  half  monopoly,  such  as  corporations  enjoying  ex- 
clusive privileges,  holding  lands,  levying  taxes,  administer- 
ing charities,  and  bestowing  offices,  one  begins  to  under- 
stand the  power  of  that  corruption  which  moved  the  old 
English  constitution.  It  works  well  !  George  Canning  used 
to  exclaim  :  countless  plunderers  responded, — it  works 
well! 

But  corruption  was  not  the  sole  support  of  the  borough- 
monger's  oligarchy.  Wherever  there  exist  only  two  classes, 
as  in  Russia  and  the  slave-states  of  America,  the  ruling 
class  despise  the  slaves,  and  the  slaves  hate  their  rulers. 
The  wise  ancestors  of  Englishmen  and  Americans  lived  in 
such  like  enmity  towards  each  Other,  when  their  habitations 
consisted  only  of  huls  and  castles.  But  as  a  middle  class 
grows  up,  the  highest  and  lowest  classes  generally  conspire 
to  injure  those  by  whom  they  are  separated.  England, 
ever  since  tin;  revolution,  presents  a  striking  instance  of 
combination  between  the  aristocracy  and  the  mob  for  the 


•  The  court*  which  relate  to  marriage  ami  the  descent  of  personal  prop- 

f  riy. 


POLITICAL    PRCSPECT3    OF    THE    ENGLISH.  99 

purpose  of  harming  the  middle  class.  Until  the  late  peace, 
the  physical  force  was  always  subservient  to  the  ends  of 
the  ruling  class ;  as  when  mobs  assembled  to  the  cries  of 
"  no  popery,"  and  "  church  and  king,"  when  the  poor  de- 
lighted in  a  victory  over  their  "  natural  enemies,"  the 
French  jacobins.  The  old  English  constitution  worked 
well,  as  long  as  it  was  supported  by  the  physical  force. 
How  this  support  was  obtained,  is  not  a  mystery.  For 
above  a  century,  at  least,  after  1688,  they  who  composed 
the  physical  force,  the  bulk  of  the  people,  were  kept  in  a 
state  of  profound  ignorance.  Closely  resembling  working 
cattle,  so  far  as  knowledge  goes,  they  were  patient  under 
oppression,  as  the  horse,  through  ignorance  of  his  own 
strength,  submits  to  the  spur.  To  obedience  they  added 
reverence.  A  lord  or  a  bishop,  a  rich  squire  or  beneficed 
clergyman,  a  rich  contractor  or  stockjobber,  residing  in 
his  mansion,  surrounded  by  a  park,  or  when  in  London 
still  in  a  mansion,  surrounded  by  mansions,  seldom  met  the 
poor  but  on  occasions  of  show  or  excitement,  when  a  dis- 
play of  his  wealth,  and  of  the  respect  paid  to  him  by  the 
middle  class,  led  the  ignorant  poorest  class  to  regard  him 
as  a  demigod.  Thus  elevated  above  the  cir>wd,  he  could 
treat  them  with  familiarity,  and  yet  preserve  their  respect, 
while  airs  of  condescension,  from  one  so  raised,  were 
grateful  to  those  so  abject.  Rank  and  wealth,  accordingly, 
were  higher  recommendations  to  mob  popularity  than  learn- 
ing and  virtue.  In  the  next  place,  with  regard  to  property, 
the  great  cause  of  jealousy  and  contention  among  men,  an 
English  aristocrat  of  the  last  century  was  supposed,  by  the 
grossly  ignorant  poor,  to  derive  his  wealth  from  any  source 
but  their  labour;  and  he  did  actually  divide  among  the 
poor  a  portion  of  the  money  which  he  obtained  from  the 
public  purse.  A  general  election  used  to  cause  a  fall  in 
the  funds,  by  the  sale  of  stock  for  the  purpose  of  bribing,  in 
one  shape  or  other,  all  poor  electors  in  the  kingdom.  Add 
to  this  the  fiction,  by  which  a  good  many  poor  men  appeared 
to  exert  a  voice  in  choosing  the  House  of  Commons,  the 
drunkenness,  license,  and  riot  which  the  ruling  class  encou- 
raged at  elections,  the  sham  of  humility  and  good-fellowship 
by  which  the  candidates  used  to  cajole  the  populace  ; 
taking  all  these  things  into  account,  the  only  wonder  is,  that 
the  poor,  ignorant,  degraded  mass  should  ever  have  had  a 
will  of  their  own. 

We  have  now  to  see  how  the  force  on  which  the  consti- 
tution depended,  was  gradually  destroyed. 


100  POLITICAL   FROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

It  is  not  so  very  long  since  old  Englishwomen  were 
burnt  for  witchcraft,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  everybody, 
save  the  old  women.  Why  do  they  no  longer  burn  old 
women  in  England  ?  Because,  in  the  course  of  a  little 
more  than  a  century,  public  opinion  respecting  witchcraft 
has  undergone  the  greatest  change.  The  same  thing  has 
happened  with  respect  to  dear  justice,  privileges,  jobs,  mo- 
nopolies, and  the  prestige  of  aristocracy.  To  examine  fully 
when  this  change  of  opinion  began,  and  by  what  steps  it 
proceeded,  would  carry  me  too  far  ;  but  a  few  remarks  on 
the  subject  may  not  be  unacceptable  to  Americans. 

Fifty  years  ago,  instruction  was  confined  to  a  portion  of 
the  highest  class.  The  middle  class,  indeed,  could  read 
and  write  ;  but  their  reading  did  not  extend  beyond  divinity, 
novels,  the  racing  calendar,  Moore's  prophetic  almanac, 
and,  now  and  then,  a  newspaper  adapted  to  their  ignorance. 
As  for  any  interchange  of  ideas  by  means  of  writing  and 
printing,  they  never  thought  of  such  a  thing;  or  rather  they 
would  have  thought  it  presumptuous,  if  not  unnatural,  in 
them  to  form  ideas  upon  subjects  of  general  interest.  Ex- 
cept when  one  of  their  narrow  superstitions  was  attacked, 
as,  for  example,  their  fear  of  popish  supremacy,  they  left  all 
public  questions  to  the  nobility,  clergy,  and  gentry,  whom 
alone  they  supposed  capable  of  understanding  such  mat- 
ters. They  ate,  drank,  attended  to  their  business,  went  to 
church,  horse-races,  and  raree-shows,  stared  and  wondered 
when  a  great  man  passed,  and  believed  that  the  whole  pub- 
lic duty  of  man  consisted  in  honouring  the  king  and  loving 
the  rest  of  the  royal  family.  The  great  French  revolution 
entirely  changed  their  character.  When  they  saw  that 
men  of  their  own  class  in  a  neighbouring  country  had 
undertaken  to  govern,  their  slothful  and  slavish  propensities 
gave  way  to  political  excitement.  The  very  horrors  which 
succeeded  the  French  revolution,  had  an  excellent  c licet  on 
them;  Betting  them  to  think,  read,  and  even  write  on  pub- 
lic questions*  and.  forcing  them,  above  all,  to  look  into  the 
condition  of  their  inferiors.  During  the  long  war  that  fol- 
lowed, some  of  them  sided  with  the  aristocracy,  and  some 
wished  success  to  thai  revolution  against  which  the  war 
w.is  directed  ;  but  all  of  them  took  an  earnest  part  in  pub- 
lie  affairs,  livery  public  question  was  now  discussed  by 
.  and  for  them  too  by  then1  superiors,  who  wanted 
their  assistance.  Books,  magazines,  pamphlets,  and  news- 
papers  came  to  be  reckoned  necessaries  of  life :  and  the 
quality   of  these  improved  with  the  greater  demand  fbj 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OP   THE    ENGLISH.  101 

them.  At  length,  towards  the  close  of  the  war,  when  a 
new  generation  had  grown  up,  the  middle  class  were  better 
instructed  than  the  highest  class,  and  the  charm  of  aristoc- 
racy was  gone.  Individual  Englishmen  still  revere  the 
distinction  of  title,  still  bow  and  cringe  to  any  one  of  supe- 
rior rank  ;  but  the  English,  in  general,  have  lost  all  reverence 
for  nobility  in  the  abstract ;  just  as  each  individual,  who 
shares  in  a  monopoly,  would  preserve  his  own  particular 
means  of  robbing  the  public,  while  all,  including  monopo- 
lists, loudly  condemn  monopolies  in  general.  During  the 
war,  however,  while  profits  were  hiu,h,  while  among  the 
middle  class  almost  every  man's  condition  improved  year 
by  year,-  a  great  majority  of  that  class  sided  with  the 
government,  and  was  opposed  to  any  change  in  the  con- 
stitution. But  with  the  peace  came  low  profits,  all  sorts 
of  particular  distresses  and  general  distress.  Thirty  or 
forty  millions  a  year,  instead  of  being  squandered  in  foreign 
subsidies  and  distant  campaigns,  were  accumulated  at  home. 
As  the  national  capital  increased,  the  now  intelligent  mid- 
dle class  became  more  numerous,  in  proportion  to  the  other 
classes ;  but  as  capital  was  invested  with  less  and  less 
profit,  the  state  of  each  individual  among  the  middle  class 
became  more  and  more  uneasy.  Thus  every  year  pro- 
duced a  great  increase  of  the  strength,  and  the  discontent 
of  the  middle  class.  Touching  politics,  distress  has  two 
very  different  effects ;  straining  men's  attention  to  their 
own  concerns,  and  yet  disposing  them  to  wish  for  change 
in  public  affairs.  In  this  case,  for  a  long  while  at  least, 
those  who  compose  each  distressed  class,  when  they  could 
think  of  any  thing  but  how  to  make  the  two  ends  meet  at 
the  close  of  the  year,  attended  only  to  such  public  questions 
as  were  interesting  to  their  own  class  in  particular.  In 
examining  the  petitions  presented  to  the  House  of  Commons 
between  the  battle  of  Waterloo  and  the  expulsion  of  Charles 
X.,  it  is  curious  to  observe  how  few,  of  those  which  carne 
from  the  middle  class,  asked  for  reform  of  parliament. 
Relief  from  distress  was  the  prayer  of  the  greater  part  of 
those  petitions  ;  agricultural  distress,  manufacturing  dis- 
tress, commercial  distress,  and,  at  last,  the  distress  of  the 
nation.  These  petitions  were  utterly  neglected ;  for  the 
spending  class,  represented  in  the  House  of  Commons,  felt 
no  distress.  In  the  end,  the  middle  class,  thus  insulted  as 
well  as  uneasy,  came  to  suspect  that  there  was  some  radi- 
cal fault  in  the  constitution. 

A  more  important  effect  of  the  French  revolution  on  tlie 


102  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

English  middle  class  was  the  disposition  which  it  produced 
in  some  of  them  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  bulk  of  the 
people.  The  slaves  of  a  neighbouring  country  had  revolted, 
and  had  acted  as  slaves  in  revolt  will  always  act.  The 
ferocious  animals  of  Labruyere,  "  male  and  female,  spread 
over  the  country,  black,  livid,  naked,  and  sun-burnt,  fixed 
to  the  earth  which  they  stirred  and  turned  with  inconceiv- 
able obstinacy,  having  an  articulate  voice,  and  showing, 
when  they  stood  upright,  a  human  face,  creeping  at  night 
into  dens,  and  living  on  black  bread,  water,  and  roots ;" 
these  despised  brutes  had  proved  what  Labruyere  had  only 
asserted  doubtingly,  namely,  that  they  were  men  and 
women.  But  what  kind  of  human  beings  !  Devils,  they 
were  called,  in  human  shape,  wretches,  miscreants,  mon- 
sters. Till  then,  the  English  had  not  suspected  that  more, 
a  good  deal,  than  half  the  people,  were  miserable  and  dan- 
gerous, like  starving  wolves.  Long  before  then,  indeed, 
l)efoe  had  shown  that  the  condition  of  the  labouring  class 
was  as  bad  in  his  time  as  it  has  ever  been  since ;  but  who 
cared?  Out  of  evil  cometh  good.  The  burnings,  drownings, 
and  massacres  by  which  the  French  populace  proved  their 
humanity,  led  to  humanity,  in  the  other  sense,  among  the 
English  middle  class.  Selfishness,  being  scared,  was  turned 
into  benevolence.  It  now  became  an  object  with  the 
middle  class  to  improve  the  physical  and  moral  state  of 
their  inferiors.  But  by  what  means  ?  This  question  was 
not  so  easily  settled.  After  much  discussion,  during  which 
some  proposed  one  thing,  some  another  thing  quite  different, 
and  some  strove  to  prove,  by  reference  to  history,  that  the 
attempt  must  fail,  it  was  agreed  that  education  should  be 
tried.  The  ruling  class,  however,  and  the  great  among 
the  clergy  in  particular,  set  their  faces  against  this  mode 
of  proceeding.  What !  teach  the  slaves  that  they  were 
men  !  it  was  a  Jacobinical  project.  All  the  ploughmen 
would  want  to  be  clerks,  and  the  journeymen  weavers  gen- 
tlemen. Who  would  work,  slave  for  the  «reat,  cringe  to 
them,  bow  down  and  worship  them  ?  Instruct  all  the 
people,  and  we  shall  have  helps  instead  of  servants;  teach 
all  men  to  respect  themselves  as  men,  and  then  what  man 
will  be  valet  to  another  man,  pull  off  his  clothes,  and 
scratch  his  hack  when  required  ?  No,  no — tench  the  people 
this,  but  not  more  ;  to  honour  and  obey  the  king  and  all 
that  are  put  in  authority  under  him, to  submit  to  their  gov- 
ernors and  spiritual  pastors  and  masters,  to  order  them- 
selves lowly  and   reverently  to  all   their  betters,  to  labour 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OP    THE    ENGLISH.  103 

for  their  own  living  (say  nothing  of  ours),  and  to  do  their 
duty  in  that  state  of  servitude  into  which  it  has  pleased 
God  to  call  them.  All  this  teach  them,  but  no  more,  unless 
you  would  turn  the  world  upside  down.  Such  in  substance 
was  the  language  held  up  by  the  ruling  class  (it  would  be  easy 
to  quote  chapter  and  verse  for  it)  when  some  of  the  middle 
class  proposed  to  instruct  all  the  people.  But  they  were 
not  satisfied  with  pointing  out  the  danger  of  educating  the 
populace  ;  those  who  sought  to  instruct  the  poor  they 
charged  with  revolutionary  principles,  and  put  a  mark  on 
them  as  jacobins  and  levellers.  Thus  many,  who  wished 
well  to  the  education  project,  were  deterred  from  assisting 
it.  A  few,  chiefly  Quakers  and  other  sectaries,  persevered, 
and  established  a  limited  number  of  schools  for  poor  chil- 
dren, on  the  plan  suggested  by  Joseph  Lancaster.  The 
inventer  of  the  system  of  Mutual  Instruction  wished  that 
no  Christians,  except  Catholics,  should  be  excluded  from 
his  schools  by  religious  scruples  ;  wherefore,  though  he 
used  the  Bible  as  a  school-book,  it  was  without  note  or 
comment.  The  high  church  party  now  changed  their  tone. 
Christian  charity  required  that  so  great  a  blessing  as  edu- 
cation should  not  be  withheld  from  the  poor.  And  then 
the  hypocrites  established  schools  on  the  Lancasterian  plan, 
vowing  that  one  of  themselves,  a  Dr.  Bell,  had  brought  the 
system  of  mutual  instruction  from  India.  In  their  schools, 
however,  which  they  called  national,  they  added  note  and 
comment  to  the  Bible ;  that  is,  they  taught  the  church  of 
England  catechism,  which  makes  slavishness  the  first  duty 
of  man.  But  this  device  of  the  aristocratic  clergy  was  of 
no  avail.  Instead  of  confining  instruction,  as  was  intended, 
to  those  who  should  be  brought  up  lowly  and  reverently 
to  the  pastors  and  masters  of  the  tythe  church,  it  piqued 
the  dissenters,  who  now  took  more  pains  than  ever  to  teach 
reading  and  writing,  at  least,  to  those  whom  the  clergy  did 
not  teach.  In  the  tythe  schools,  after  all,  more  than  this 
was  not  taught.  The  result  of  all  the  teaching  put 
together  is,  that  about  half,  perhaps  near  three-quarters,  of 
the  English  poor  can  read,  and  a  tenth  part  of  them  write. 
The  writing  was  of  no  use  to  them,  nor  the  reading 
either,  maybe,  except  as  a  step.  For  absolutely  nothing 
was  done  by  any  class  of  teachers  to  improve  the  physi- 
cal condition  of  the  poor.  No  pains  were  taken  to  assist 
them  in  turning  their  limited  knowledge,  or  rather  their 
means  of  knowledge,  to  the  best  account.  Religious 
tracts  were  given  to  them  in  abundance,  but  nothing  else. 
In  all  other  respects,  what  they  should  learn  by  means  of 


104  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    EIVGLISII. 

reading  was  left  to  chance.  Even  had  it  been  otherwise, 
if  the  greatest  pains  had  been  taken  to  put  useful  knowledge 
in  their  way,  how  should  they  have  profited  by  the  boon  ? 
they  who  were  condemned  to  incessant  toil  and  severe 
physical  want.  They  learned,  consequently,  little  more 
than  what  the  antijacobins  had  foreseen  that  they  would 
learn,  to  be  thoroughly  discontented  with  their  lot,  and  to 
believe  that  their  misery  was  owing  to  bad  government. 
This  faith  may  be  true  or  erroneous  :  it  took  root  firmly 
in  the  minds  of  the  English  working  class  ;  and  from  that 
time  forward  the  physical  force  of  the  nation  was  at  enmity 
with  the  constitution. 

Having  stated  why  and  how  the  English  became  disposed 
to  alter  their  constitution,  I  proceed  to  describe  the  manner 
of  the  change. 

The  admirers  of  the  old  constitution  say,  that  it  had  a 
peculiar  knack  of  adapting  itself  to  new  circumstances  ;  the 
pliability,  the  elasticity  of  the  constitution,  they  call  this 
alleged  virtue.  Probably  the  constitution  had  become 
stiff  from  age ;  but  at  all  events,  it  did  not  adapt  itself  to 
the  new  opinions  with  respect  to  it,  which  having  sprung 
up  with  the  French  revolution,  were  checked  by  the  war 
with  revolutionary  France,  and  have  grown  steadily  and 
rapidly  ever  since  the  battle  of  Waterloo.  Those  who 
managed  the  constitution  obstinately  resisted  every  proposal 
for  altering  the  venerable  machine.  But  from  the  moment 
when  a  good  many  people  thought  of  changing  the  consti- 
tution, it  no  longer  worked  pleasantly.  Instead  of  only  two 
factions  struggling  for  the  management  of  the  constitution, 
which  both  factions  revered,  there  arose  a  third  faction, 
bent  on  overturning  tories,  whigs,  constitution,  and  all.  For 
many  years  the  reform  party  was  divided  into  three  parties  ; 
first,  those  who  attacked  the  constitution  itself;  secondly, 
those  who  attacked  the  power  which  worked  the  constitu- 
tion ;  thirdly,  those  who  attacked  both  the  constitution  and 
the  power.  The  first  class,  nicknamed  Radicals,  consisted, 
for  the  most  part,  of  work-people  in  the  towns,  and  was  by 
far  the  most  numerous  ;  the  second  class,  called  Liberals, 
was  composed  principally  of  clever  men,  belonging  to  the 
ruling  class,  and    warmly  attached   to  the   Constitution,  but 

who,  lending  an  ear  to  the  public  outcry  against  jobs  and 
monopolies,  thought  that  thej  could  stretch  the  constitution 
to  the  length  <>l  their  libera]  opinions  without  even  altering 
its  shape. ;  the  third  class.  ielf-called  Utilitarians, comprising, 
when  that  name  was  first  heard,  not  so  many  perhaps  as 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH.  105 

five  hundred  individuals,  were  content  to  speculate,  to 
reason  in  the  abstract,  on  all  questions  of  government, 
taking  care,  however,  that  their  speculations  should  be 
published.  It  would  be  hard  to  say  which  of  these  classes 
of  reformers  was  most  dangerous  to  the  constitution.  The 
radicals,  very  numerous  and  always  contemplating  the  use 
of  physical  force,  were  highly  dangerous  ;  for  though  they 
were  kept  down  by  the  physical  force  of  the  government, 
many  an  accident  might  any  day  have  given  them  the  ad- 
vantage. It  seems  well  to  observe  here,  that  ever  since 
the  poor  of  England  were  taught  to  read,  the  English 
have  found  a  standing  army  absolutely  necessary.  The 
liberals  were  very  dangerous,  because,  not  conscious 
themselves,  nor  suspected  by  others,  of  intending  any 
harm  to  the  constitution,  they  grubbed  at  its  foundation, 
blind  and  unseen,  like  moles.  And  the  utilitarians  were 
not  less  dangerous ;  for  by  exposing  the  fiction  of  three 
equal  powers,  balance,  and  harmony,  the  injustice  of  dear 
laws,  the  uselessness  of  privileges,  the  iniquity  of  jobs,  and 
the  follies  of  monopolies,  they  took  the  very  best  method  of 
bringing  the  constitution  into  contempt.  But  whichever 
of  these  three  classes  of  reformers  was  most  dangerous  to 
the  constitution,  no  sooner  did  the  whole  body  of  reformers 
acquire  some  importance,  than  there  occurred  a  confusion  of 
parties  among  the  ruling  class  such  as  may  never  perhaps  be 
thoroughly  understood.  Old  whigs  now  leaned  to  toryism  ; 
young  tories  to  liberalism  ;  along  with  the  remainder  of 
the  whigs,  who  happened  to  be  out  at  the  time  ;  while  some 
whigs  declared  for  parliamentary  reform,  and  a  portion 
of  the  tories  took  the  title  of  conservatives,  meaning  that 
they  would  defend  the  old  constitution  in  all  its  parts  against 
all  its  enemies.  In  short,  public  opinion  forced  a  new 
question  into  the  House  of  Commons  :  it  was  no  longer 
which  shall  be  in,  the  whigs  or  the  tories  ?  but  shall  the 
constitution  be  altered  or  shall  it  be  preserved  ?  From 
that  moment  the  constitution  could  not  work  well ;  it  was 
in  fact  altered,  or  had  began  to  break  in  pieces.  Nothing 
could  have  saved  it  but  such  a  war  as  had  saved  it  before. 
At  length  unconstitutional  opinions  gained  a  majority  of 
the  House  of  Commons;  and  the  fact  was  made  known  when 
that  house,  on  the  death  of  Lord  Liverpool,  chose  that 
George  Canning  should  become  prime  minister.  Canning, 
who  had  been  devoted  to  the  constitution,  was  now  a  liberal. 
His  appointment  was  received  with  shouts  of  applause  by 
all  classes  of  reformers,  while  the  conservatives  groaned  in 

14 


106  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH, 

fear  and  anger.  Still,  as  yet,  the  government  had  performed 
no  act  in  accordance  with  the  new  opinions  of  the  nation. 
Canning,  who  well  understood  his  mission,  began  by  some 
liberal  measures  with  respect  to  foreign  countries ;  but  the 
conservatives  were  not  blind  to  this  mode,  however  indirect, 
of  attacking  their  beloved  constitution :  they  fell  upon  Can- 
ning and  killed  him.  Then  came  the  Goderich  ministry, 
mixed  and  liberal,  like  that  of  Canning,  but  wanting  an  able 
chief  to  keep  together  its  heterogeneous  materials :  for 
want  of  a  better,  it  lasted  some  months,  but  disjointed  and 
despised  ;  and  was  then  broken  up,  partly  by  the  intrigues 
of  the  conservatives,  and  still  more  by  its  own  cowardice 
and  stupidity.  One  fine  morning,  the  prime  minister  was 
not  to  be  found  ;  when  the  king,  surprised  no  doubt  at  the 
strange  working  of  the  constitution,  charged  his  friend, 
Arthur  Duke  of  Wellington,  to  form  a  ministry.  Many 
supposed  that  the  constitution  was  saved. 

By  habit,  and  perhaps  by  instinct,  Wellington  was  a  pure 
conservative.  He  had  been  used  to  power,  he  delighted  in 
power,  and  valued  the  constitution  as  it  gave  power  to  a 
few  over  the  many  ;  but  that  a  mere  soldier,  so  ignorant 
and  even  illiterate,  should  have  understood  the  nature  of 
that  most  complex  machine,  it  is  very  difficult  to  believe. 
At  all  events,  he  humoured  the  liberal  House  of  Commons, 
by  taking  some  liberal  colleagues,  and  soon  struck  the  con- 
stitution a  mortal  blow. 

By  that  constitution,  no  aboriginal  Irishman,  that  is, 
Catholic,  could  become  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
A  vacancy  having  taken  place  in  the  representation,  as  it 
was  called,  of  an  Irish  county,  the  aborigines  of  that 
county  met,  and  in  defiance  of  the  law  elected  a  native 
Irishman.  What  was  to  be  done?  Thirty  years  sooner, 
the  armed  Protestants,  that  is  colonists,  of  Ireland,  aided  by 
an  English  army,  would  have  settled  the  question  in  double 
quick  time  ;  and  Wellington,  an  Irish  colonist,  a  soldier  who 
had  once  governed  the  native  Irish  on  the  spot,  would  have 
been  the  man  of  all  others  to  put  down  such  a  rebellion  by 
force  of  arms.  The  Irish,  who  as  a  people,  seem  deficient 
in  courage,  would  probably  have  submitted  to  force,  as  they 
had  often  submitted  before  to  a  handful  of  English  soldiers; 
but  this  time  there  was  something  to  manage  iii  England  : 
a  thing  thai  never  was  managed  by  force.  Public  opinion, 
acting  on  the  House  of  Commons,  had  disposed  that  assem- 
bly, as  any  corporal  might  see,  to  s\  mpathize  with  the  Irish 
rebels.  The  temper  of  the  House  of  Commons  putting  a 
maspacre  of  the  Irish  out  of  question,  there  remained  foi 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH.  107 

Wellington  only  a  choice  of  evils  ;  on  the  one  side,  conces- 
sion to  rebels  and  a  repeal  of  the  law  which  excluded 
Catholics  from  parliament,  with  a  certainty  that  that  great 
monopoly-job,  the  English  church  establishment  in  Ireland 
would  be  next  destroyed  ;  on  the  other  side,  resignation, 
loss  of  power,  with  the  certainty  that  some  other  minister 
would  ere  long  carry  a  Catholic  relief  bill.  Wellington 
decided  like  a  brave  and  ambitious  man,  as  he  is.  All  at 
once  he  became  more  popular  than  Canning  had  ever  been. 
Himself  had  declared  shortly  before,  that  he  must  be  mad 
to  think  of  being  prime  minister.  To  what  special  in- 
capacity he  referred  we  cannot  tell :  though  all,  save  the 
conservatives,  agreed  with  him  at  the  time,  he  now  became, 
except  with  the  conservatives,  the  most  humane,  the  most 
liberal,  the  wisest  of  men.  The  conservatives  had  looked 
to  him  for  saving  the  constitution.  When,  therefore,  he  led 
so  outrageous  an  attack  upon  it,  they  were  ready  to  devour 
him  ;  but  they  could  not  break  his  heart,  which  is  rather 
hard,  as  they,  aided  by  him,  had  broken  poor  Canning's, 
which  was  of  a  fine  texture.  Nay,  he  converted  the  greater 
part  of  them  to  his  own  views  by  saying — Support  me,  or 
resign ;  and  as  for  the  remainder,  they  were  so  few  that  he 
thought  he  might  safely  despise  them :  a  mistake,  as  it 
turned  out. 

However,  a  relief  bill  was  passed,  large,  complete,  not 
open  to  an  objection  from  the  revolutionists,  except  as  it  ex- 
cluded from  parliament,  for  one  year,  that  popular  Irishman, 
whom  the  natives  had  elected  against  law.  This  personal 
clause,  being  attributed  to  the  spite  of  an  underling,  a  violent 
anti-catholic,  who  had  supported  the  bill  to  keep  his  place  ; 
mean  as  this  clause  was,  it  did  not  detract  from  Wellington's 
popularity.  Humane,  liberal,  wise,  when  he  proposed  the 
bill,  he  was  now  the  greatest  statesman  of  his  age  or  any 
age  ;  he  had  won  a  civic  crown  more  durable  than  his 
martial  laurels  ;  his  name  would  go  down  to  posterity  as 
one  of  the  greatest  benefactors  of  his  country  and  mankind. 
These  are  some  of  the  terms  in  which  his  grace  was 
thanked  for  his  part  in  the  first  obvious  blow  given  to  the 
old  English  constitution. 

Revolutions  are  terrible,  but  in  one  point  of  view  seem 
better  than  great  political  changes  conducted  without 
violence.  After  a  revolution  comes  peace  ;  after  a  great 
peaceful  change  comes,  very  often,  revolution.  The  leaders 
in  great  but  peaceful  political  changes  are,  commonly,  un- 
willing actors,  who  act  from  necessity,  all  their  opinions 


108  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

remaining  unchanged  ;  who  yield  this,  merely  to  preserve 
that ;  and  who,  therefore,  proceed  without  regard  to  con- 
sequences ;  as  if  the  single  concession  were  to  be  a  final 
measure,  were  to  have  no  consequences.  It  was  just  so 
with  those  who  managed  the  repeal  of  the  Irish  slave-code. 

A  breathing  time  followed  that  act ;  a  pause,  during  which 
England  was  governed,  not  by  a  constitution,  but  by  the 
individual  Duke  of  Wellington.  If  his  rrraee  had  not  been 
blinded  by  his  flatterers,  he  would  have  seen  from  the  popu- 
larity of  the  once  haled  Canning,  from  his  own  popularity, 
and  above  all,  from  the  confidence  which  the  nation  reposed 
in  him,  the  resolute,  slashing  reformer  ;  from  all  this,  1  say, 
he  would  have  perceived  the  absolute  necessity  of  moving 
on  with  the  work  of  reform.  The  reformers,  giving  the 
field-marshal  credit  for  common  discernment,  believed  that 
he  would  move  on,  and  thought  it  wise  to  let  him  alone ;  the 
House  of  Commons  appeared  to  have  abandoned  its  func- 
tions to  a  dictator  ;  some  of  the  conservatives  merely 
sulked ;  and  some,  not  knowing  what  to  do,  called  out,  for 
what  ?  for  a  reform  of  the  House  of  Commons.* 

Rulers  and  nations  have  often  deceived  each  other,  but 
never  so  completely  as  the  English  people  deceived  Wel- 
lington, and  Wellington  deceived  the  English  people,  for 
some  time  after  the  passing  of  the  relief  bill.  Wellington 
thought  that  the  people  were  entirely  satisfied  with  what 
had  been  done  ;  and  the  people  doubted  not  that  Welling- 
ton was  hatching  some  grand  plot  against  the  constitution. 
An  accident  suddenly  opened  the  eyes  of  both  parties. 

At  the  end  of  1830,  the  French  constitution,  which  had 
never  worked  well,  stopped  entirely  for  a  few  days.  The 
French  king  and  the  citizens  of  Paris  came  to  blows ;  the 
king  being  beaten,  was  driven  away  ;  his  cousin,  after 
giving  some  faithless  promises  to  alter  the  constitution,  was 
appointed  king;  and  then  the  constitution  of  Waterloo, 
slightly  altered,  creaked  on  ;is  before. 

The  new  French  king,  ami  the  French  whigs,  call  this  a 
glorious  revolution  ;  but  it  did  not  occupy  a  fortnight,  and 
it  ended  in  no  greater  change  than  would  have  happened  if 
the  old  king  had  died  in  his  bed  without  male  issue.  On 
the  face  of  it,  there  lore,  one  can  sec  nothing  that  should 
have   produced  a  great  Bensation  in  England  ;  still  less 

'  An  article  in  the  Quarterly  Review, published  just  before  the  expulsion 

of  Charles   K..,  and  when  the  quest! if  reform  in  parliament  seemed  io 

posses*  no  interest  for  Englishmen,  exposed  very  ably  Mime  of  the  greatest 
defects  of  tlie  House  of  Commons,  an  a  legislative  assembly. 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH  1 09 

such  violent  political  excitement  as  actually  occurred.  As 
respects  England,  what  new  political  principles  were 
brought  to  light  by  the  Parisian  "  three  days  ?"  The  right 
of  resistance  to  tyrants  ?  no,  for  that  principle  was  acknow- 
ledged, nay  consecrated,  by  the  oligarchy  of  borough- 
mongers.  The  right  of  tax  payers  to  vote  taxes,  which 
was  the  principle  of  the  American  revolution  ?  by  no  means. 
The  right  to  be  without  a  government,  which  seems  to 
have  been  the  principle  of  the  first  French  revolution?  cer- 
tainly not ;  for  the  Parisian  workmen  who  expelled  Charles 
X.,  fought  in  the  name  of  the  Waterloo  charter.  Well, 
then,  why  after  the  Parisian  three  days  were  the  work- 
people of  the  English  towns  so  deeply  agitated  ?  Why  did 
the  ruling  class  exhibit  so  much  terror  ?  Why  did  nine- 
teen-twentieths  of  the  press  demand,  all  of  a  sudden,  an 
immediate  and  effectual  reform  of  the  House  of  Commons  ? 
Why  did  Mr.  Brougham  declare  that  he  had  prepared  a 
plan  of  reform  in  parliament ;  he  who  had  not  mentioned 
the  subject  for  years,  except  to  deride  the  radical  reform- 
ers? Why  was  he  elected  member  for  Yorkshire  ?  Why 
was  Mr.  Hunt  elected  for  Preston,  spite  of  the  house  of 
Stanley,  in  their  own  borough  ?  Why  was  parliament, 
which  for  years  had  scarcely  received  a  petition  for  reform, 
now  overwhelmed  with  such  petitions  ?  Why  did  Welling- 
ton utter  his  famous  eulogy  of  rotten  boroughs  ?  Why  did 
he,  the  popular  dictator,  resign  in  dudgeon,  if  not  in  a 
fright?  WThy  did  Wellington  and  the  conservatives  make  up 
their  quarrel '.  What  brought  the  whigs,  the  proud,  careless, 
lazy,  and  suspected  whigs  into  office  ?  And  why  did  those 
whigs  introduce  a  bill  of  reform,  which  was  to  cut  through 
the  stem  of  the  constitution?  A  single  word  answers  all 
these  questions, — barricades  !  The  principle  of  the  poor 
dupes  who  conquered  at  Paris,  was  attachment  to  a  con- 
stitution, which  gives  all  the  powers  of  government  to  less 
than  two  hundred  thousand  persons  out  of  thirty-two  mil- 
lions; but  then  the  three  days  of  Paris  made,  and  made 
known,  this  very  important  discovery, — that  there  is  a  way 
by  which  the  populace  of  a  large  town  may  beat  the  best 
of  soldiers.  Not  one  gentleman  took  part  with  the  popu- 
lace of  Paris :  a  general,  since  a  minister,  and  still  a  favourite 
of  the  new  king,  being  asked  to  lead  them,  said, — pooh  !  the 
rabble,  the  canaille  !  Such  was  the  opinion  of  military  men, 
of  all  men,  concerning  the  relative  force  of  mobs  and  house- 
hold troops.  All  at  once,  opinion  as  to  this  matter  ran  into 
the  other  extreme.     In  England,  cannon  balls  became  as 


110  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

nothing  compared  with  pavement  stones  ;  strapping  guards- 
men looked  like  dwarfs,  and  the  smallest  artisan  was  a 
giant.  This  new  faith  produced  the  most  general  and 
violent  agitation  ever  known  in  England,  without  biood- 
shed.  The  workmen  of  the  towns  used  to  shake  hands 
when  they  met  in  public,  though  they  had  parted  not  an 
hour  before,  and  expected  to  meet  again  during  the  day ; 
and  then,  when  one  of  their  leaders  did  but  talk  of  work- 
men at  Paris,  tears  ran  down  their  unwashed  cheeks,  and 
they  shook  hands  again,  this  time  with  an  earnest  grasp. 
The  work-people  in  the  country,  not  so  well  informed  on 
foreign  affairs,  and  more  secret  in  their  ways,  appeared 
gloomy  and  savage.  All  the  other  classes,  nobility,  clergy, 
gentry,  placeholders,  stockholders,  manufacturers,  mer- 
chants, and  tradesmen,  were  disturbed  by  one  of  two  ex- 
treme sentiments  ;  either  fear  amounting  to  terror,  or  hope 
equal  to  joy.  Such  of  them  as  admired  the  constitution 
turned  pale  when  you  mentioned  barricades,  and  used  to 
skulk  about  with  downcast  looks,  as  if  some  great  misfor- 
tune had  befallen  them.  The  others,  if  whigs,  were  in  high 
spirits  ;  that  is,  certain  of  coming  in  ;  and,  if  downright 
enemies  of  the  constitution,  of  rotten  boroughs,  privileges, 
dear  law,  jobs,  and  monopolies  ;  these,  I  say,  never  met  but 
with  sparkling  eyes,  to  laugh  and  brag  over  the  prospect. 

The  effects  of  a  given  power  may  be  small  or  great,  ac- 
cording to  the  susceptibility  of  the  matter  on  which  the 
power  acts.  The  discovery  of  barricades  could  not  have 
affected  the  whole  English  nation  so  deeply,  or  perhaps  at 
all,  if  that  nation  had  been  contented  with  its  political  in- 
stitutions. The  physical  discovery  of  the  Parisians  led  to 
this  great  political  discovery  in  England  ;  thai  the  nation 
had  outgrown  its  laws.  What  followed  mighl  have  been 
foretold,  nay,  as  to  its  main  features,  was  foretold,  by  careful 
observers. 

The  rural  paupers,  the  serfs  of  England,  rebelled  ;  and 
the  farmers,  who  down  1<>  thai  time  had  been  reckoned 
warm  friends  of  the  constitution,  notwithstanding  their  dis- 
tress, appeared  to  sympathize  with  the  rebels.  Thus  about 
a  third  of  England  was  more  or  less  in  a  state  of  insurrec- 
tion, without  any  physical  means  of  restoring  order. 
While  lii's  were  blazing  and  bs  exacting  higher  wages 

in    the    country,   a    new   kin'/    met   anew    parliament;   and 

Wellington,  the  popular  dictator,  the  wisest  of  statesmen, 
wisely  seized  thai  opportunity  to  declare  solemnly  in  favour 
of  the  most  perfeel  constitution  ever  framed  by  the  ingenu- 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH.  1  1  1 

ity  of  man.  In  one  day  all  the  duke's  popularity  was  gone. 
The  most  humane,  liberal,  clear-sighted  of  men,  the  great- 
est statesman,  the  benefactor  of  his  country  and  mankind, 
became,  all  in  one  day,  observe,  hard-hearted,  narrow- 
minded,  wooden-headed,  every  thing  worthless.  The  sud- 
denness of  Wellington's  fall  in  the  public  esteem  shows  the 
extent  to  which  he  had  deceived  the  nation,  and  they  him. 

While  the  shout  of  execration  was  at  its  height,  the  day 
arrived  when  the  king  and  his  ministers  had  engaged  to 
dine  at  Guildhall  with  the  citizens  of  London.    Wellington 
advised  the  king  not  to  attend  the  feast.     As  the  king  was 
very  popular  at  the  time  ;  and  popular,  be  it  said  in  passing, 
because  his   bearing  towards  the    populace  presented  a 
striking  contrast  with  the  haughty  reserve  of  his  late  bro- 
ther ;  this  being  the  case,  it  was  supposed  by  some,  that 
Wellington's  advice  to  the  king  had  been  dictated  by  per- 
sonal fear.     This  charge,  brought  against  one  who  proba- 
bly never  was  afraid,  is  not  worth  refuting.     Why  then 
make  the  populace  believe  that  the  government  was  afraid 
of  them  ?  Because  the  government  was  afraid  of  the  popu- 
lace; not  the  ministers  on  account  of  their  own  persons,  but 
every  member  of  the  government  on  account  of  the  con- 
stitution ;  terrified  at  the  thoughts  of  barricades.     Would 
the  presence  of  ministers  in  the  city  have  raised  barricades  ? 
There  was  great  risk  of  it,  to  say  the  least ;  and  if  barri- 
cades had  been  raised,  who  shall  tell  where  the  insurrec- 
tion would  have  stopped  ?  Considering  the  inflamed  state  of 
the  peasantry,  and  of  the  workmen  in  the  towns  throughout 
England  and  Scotland  :  considering,  further,  the  extremely 
artificial  state    of  English  society,  the    great   number  of 
people  who  live  from  hand  to  mouth  by  pursuits  not  agri- 
cultural, the  influence  of  confidence  and  credit  in  feeding 
those  people,  and  the  crash  that  would  have  followed  if  any 
thing  had  occurred  to  disturb  seriously  the  ordinary  course 
of  industry  and  trade  ;  bearing   all  this  in  mind,  we  shall 
conclude,  that  Wellington  acted  prudently  in  avoiding  the 
city  .feast.     Still  the  breach  of  the  king's  engagement  with 
the  citizens  was  treated  as  a  great  popular  triumph,  which 
indeed   it  was;  and  Wellington,  who  till   then  had   been 
feared  as  much  as  hated,  was  now  despised.    I  do  not  give 
too  much  importance  to  the  failure  of  a  city  feast.     In  the 
progress  of  revolutions,  great  events  seem  to  hinge  upon 
trifles.     Some  aldermen  missed  a  dinner  ;  but  this  was  the 
first  time  when  the  friends  of  the  old  English  constitution 
showed  any  fear  of  its  enemies. 


112  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

The  dinner  things  were  hardly  removed  from  Guildhall, 
when  the  House  of  Commons  objected  to  the  new  civil  list, 
which  Wellington  proposed  for  the  new  king.  Owing  to 
the  confusion  of  parties  which  had  now  taken  place,  about 
fifty  conservatives  voted  against  the  duke  and  the  constitu- 
tion :  Quos  Deos  vult  perdere  prius  dementat.  They 
would  have  voted  for  reform  of  parliament  the  next  day, 
when  Mr.  Brougham,  moved  by  the  barricades  of  Paris, 
was  to  have  brought  forward  a  plan  for  mending  the  con- 
stitution ;  but  Wellington  resigned,  Mr.  Brougham's  motion 
fell  to  the  ground,  and  the  whigs  came  in,  giving  three  great 
pledges  to  the  nation.  They  promised,  first,  to  maintain 
peace  ;  which,  as  there  was  no  war,  nor  prospect  of  war, 
meant  that  they  would  not  get  up  a  war  to  divert  the  nation 
from  its  purpose  of  reform  :  secondly,  they  promised  re- 
trenchment, that  is,  to  diminish  the  power  which  had  moved 
the  constitution  ;  and  thirdly,  a  full  and  effectual  reform  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  meaning  a  great  change  in  the  con- 
stitution itself. 

The  people  were  overjoyed,  but  not  disposed  to  confide 
implicitly  in  the  whigs,  who  had  often  deceived  the  people, 
and  who,  as  members  of  the  aristocracy,  were  suspected 
of  a  strong  attachment  to  the  oligarchy  of  boroughmongers. 
The  people,  therefore,  formed  themselves  into  societies  for 
promoting  reform,  and,  partly  by  petitions,  but  still  more  by 
means  of  the  press,  told  ministers  what  the  nation  under- 
stood by  "  full  and  effectual."  Above  all,  they  threatened 
openly,  in  so  many  words,  that  if  the  whigs  should  offer 
them  a  mock  reform,  they  would  take  a  revolution.  At 
length,  on  the  memorable  1st  of  March,  1831,  the  whig 
cabinet  produced  their  bill,  themselves  alone  being  aware 
of  its  contents  until  it  was  laid  before  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. 

An  abstract  of  the  whig  bill  would  not  describe  it  so  well 
as  an  account  of  its  reception  by  the  three  great  parties 

which  then  divided  the  country. 

The  conservatives,  including  those  who  had  quarrelled 
with  Wellington  <>n  account  ofCatholicrelief,  were  delighted 
with  the  bill:  they  chuckled,  and  laughed,  and  clapped  their 
hands.  Was  then.- ever,  said  they,  any  thing  so  extrava- 
gant! The  whigs  must  be  mad.  Thank  God,  they  had 
■one  far  enough.  Such  a  bill !  revolutionary  was  too  good 
an  epithet  for  it.  So  ridiculous,  so  preposterous  a  bill 
would  not  be  read  a  first  time.  The  whigs  must  resign-, 
they  had  cut  their  throats  ;  nothing  could  be  better. 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH.  113 

The  feeling  of  the  moderate  reformers  was  expressed 
by  one  of  the  richest  men  in  England,  a  whig,  but  leaning 
to  utilitarian  opinions.*  He  declared  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, that  the  bill  took  away  his  breath.  Perhaps  he  was 
affected,  not  so  much  by  the  bill  itself,  as  by  the  evidence 
which  the  introduction  of  such  a  bill  by  the  cabinet  furnished, 
of  the  force  of  the  popular  will. 

The  decided  enemies  of  the  constitution  having  carefully 
examined  the  bill,  said — It  is  a  good  first  step ;  pass  it, 
pass  it ! 

In  a  week  there  were  but  two  parties  ;  enemies  of  the 
bill  or  anti-reformers,  and  friends  of  the  bill  or  reformers. 
The  conservatives  made  up  all  their  quarrels,  seeking  only 
to  throw  out  the  bill :  the  whigs  and  reformers  forgot  all 
their  differences,  bent  only  on  passing  the  bill.  But,  what 
is  more  remarkable,  the  conservatives  now  called  them- 
selves reformers,  and  the  reformers  swore  that  they  were 
conservatives. 

The  House  of  Commons,  thinking  with  the  conservatives 
that  the  whigs  had  indeed  gone  too  far,  would  not  pass  the 
bill.  The  press,  representing  the  nation,  stormed  for  a 
general  election,  and  the  whigs  dissolved  parliament.  In 
the  general  election,  the  conservatives  were  signally  de- 
feated. In  vain  did  they,  by  pointing  out  that  the  bill  would 
disfranchise  many  poor  men,  try  to  enlist  the  physical  force 
on  their  side ;  in  vain  did  they  declare  for  reform  gene- 
rally, pressing  their  hands  on  their  hearts  and  vowing  that 
they  had  never  been  friendly  to  abuses  ;  in  vain  also  did 
they  put  forward  images  of  revolution,  confiscation,  and 
bloodshed  :  it  was  all  in  vain  ;  they  were  beaten,  wherever 
it  was  possible,  by  means  of  unions,  subscriptions,  the 
king's  name,  brickbats,  and  a  single  pledge, — "  the  bill,  the 
whole  bill,  and  nothing  but  the  bill." 

Parliament  was  already  reformed.  The  new  House  of 
Commons  would  have  passed  the  bill  in  a  month,  if  the  whigs 
had  proposed  such  a  course.  In  that  case,  probably,  the  lords 
would  have  wanted  courage  to  reject  the  bill,  and  the  consti- 
tution might  have  appeared  to  reform  itself.  But  the  whigs, 
deliberately  as  it  seems,  managed  matters  so  that  the  bill 
was  eventually  carried  by  physical  force.  By  encouraging 
opposition  to  the  bill  in  the  commons,  by  carefully  pro- 
moting discussion  and  delay,  the  whigs  restored  the  habitual 
insolence  of  the  conservatives,  who  had  been  subdued  by 

*  Mr.  John  Smith,  the  banker,  of  London. 
15 


114  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

the  general  election ;  raid,  when  the  bill  found  its  weary 
way  into  the  lords,  everybody,  the  whigs  alone  excepted, 
knew  that  their  lordships  would  reject  it. 

There  was  yet  a  way  of  passing  the  bill  constitutionally  ; 
that  is,  by  a  creation  of  peers.  Such  a  measure  might  even 
have  revived  a  belief  in  the  beautiful  harmony  of  the  con- 
stitution. But  the  whigs  seem  to  have  been  bent  on  giving 
importance  to  the  physical  force.  Though  all  who  wished 
the  inevitable  revolution  to  take  place  without  violence, 
implored  the  whigs  to  create  peers,  they  pursued  their  wil- 
ful way  :  and  the  lords  rejected  the  bill. 

If  the  whigs,  afraid  of  their  own  bill,  imagined  that  its 
rejection  by  the  lords  would  enable  them  to  satisfy  the 
people  with  a  less  effectual  reform,  they  were  soon  unde- 
ceived. The  reformers  now  put  forward  images  of  revo- 
lution, confiscation,  and  bloodshed  ;  political  unions  were 
formed  in  London  and  the  agricultural  districts,  where 
hitherto  they  had  not  been  thought  of;  the  expediency, 
rather  than  the  lawfulness  of  refusing  to  pay  taxes,  was 
now  openly  discussed  at  public  meetings  and  by  the  press; 
and  the  blindest  might  see  that  the  people  were  about  to  take 
the  question  of  reform  into  their  own  hands.  The  whigs, 
however  blind,  saw  this,  and  promised  that  the  bill  should 
pass  unaltered.  No  one  doubted  that  they  had  made  up 
their  minds  to  create  peers  ;  and  the  fury  of  the  people 
subsided. 

As  the  rejected  bill  could  not  be  brought  forward  again 
in  the  same  session,  parliament  was  prorogued  and  re- 
assembled. This  time,  a  week  might  have  sufficed  for 
passing  the  bill  in  the  commons.  The  whigs  thought  lit  to 
discuss  it  all  over  again  with  the  conservatives  ;  and  this 
farce,  from  which  the  people  turned  in  disgust,  lasted  near 
half  a  year.  Still  no  peers  were  created  ;  and  at  length 
suspicion  began  to  fall  upon  the  king,  who  till  now  had 
been  the  most  popular  of  English  monarchs. 

Once  more  the  bill  was  taken  to  the  lords,  who  boldly 
declared  that  they  would  not  pass  it.  Make  peers  !  peers 
or  a  revolution  !  was  now  the  cry  all  over  England,  Scot- 
land, ami  Ireland.  Some  whigs  hurried  to  Windsor  and 
advised  the  king  to  make  peers.  His  majesty,  who,  there 
no  doubt,  would  have  said,  yes,  if  the  proposal  had 
been  made  six  months  earlier,  was  pleased,  in  his  royal 
Wisdom,  to  Bay,  no.  The  whigs,  who  were  never  wanting 
in  pnde,  resign*  d  \  and  1  ield-marshal  the  I  >uke  of  Welling- 


"POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH.  115 

ton  became  once  more,  in  name  at  least,  prime-minister  of 
England. 

The  conservatives  now  thought  to  govern  England  by 
the  sword.  For  ten  days  England  was  governed  by  news- 
papers and  political  unions.  It  was  not  an  interregnum, 
as  some  have  said,  but  a  «ood  strong  government,  orderly 
too,  and,  like  that  of  the  United  States,  a  government  which 
gave  immediate  effect  to  the  public  will.  How  the  king, 
the  lords,  the  new  minister,  and  the  ex-ministry  settled  the 
matter  among  them,  has  never  been  told  ;  but  after  the 
political  unions  and  newspapers  had  governed  vigorously 
for  ten  days,  the  whigs  got  in  again,  and  the  lords,  civilly, 
humbly,  in  haste  and  without  even  a  wry  face,  passed  the 
whole  bill.  In  one  word,  the  new  constitution  of  England 
was  obtained  by  physical  force.  The  conservatives  said  it 
should  be  so  ;  and  so  it  was. 

I  have  dwelt  so  long  on  the  manner  of  the  late  change 
in  the  English  constitution,  because  it  appears  more  im- 
portant with  a  view  to  the  future  than  the  change  itself. 
But,  though  the  change  itself,  if  it  were  to  be  judged  by  the 
elections  which  have  taken  place  according  to  the  reform 
bill,  would  not  appear  very  important ;  though  it  would 
appear  trifling  if  estimated  by  the  paltry  reforms  of  abuses 
which  have  thus  far  resulted  from  it ;  still  it  has,  to  all  in- 
tents and  purposes,  produced  a  new  constitution,  as  will  be 
seen  in  the  long  run.  Some  of  those  to  whom  the  reform 
bill  gives  the  right  of  voting  for  members  of  parliament, 
were  prevented  by  a  trick*  from  exercising  their  franchise  ; 
others  were  deterred  from  voting  by  the  fear  of  offending 
their  landlords  and  rich  customers ;  these  two  classes 
together  being  so  numerous,  that  fewer  persons,  it  is  be- 
lieved, voted  at  the  late  election  than  at  the  last  election  of 
an  unreformed  parliament.  Some  again,  and  not  a  few, 
were  induced  by  bribery  or  intimidation  to  vote  for  con- 
servative candidates,  while  many  would  have  voted  for 
better  candidates,  if  better  there  had  been.  In  fact,  the 
late  general  election  took  place  when  the  nation,  fatigued 
with  two  years  of  violent  excitement,  was  in  a  state  of  ex- 
haustion. But,  though  the  result  of  that  election  be  a 
House  of  Commons  which  does  not  appear  to  differ  mate- 
rially from  the  houses  that  were  got  together  under  the  old 
constitution,  still  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that  a  majority  of 

*  By  fixing  so  early  a  day  for  the  payment  of  taxes  already  due,  such 
payment  being  one  qualification  for  voting,  that  many  electors  were  taken 
by  surprise,  and  missed  the  right  of  voting  at  the  next  general  election. 


116  POLITICAL   PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

its  members  are  responsible  to  their  constituents,  or  that 
they  will  be  made  to  feel  their  responsibility  ;  whether  at 
the  next  general  election  or  sooner  is  not  a  very  important 
question,  considering  the  certainty  almost  of  a  general 
election  within  three  or  four  years.  But  at  all  events, 
whenever  the  class  to  which  the  reform  bill  gives  the  right 
of  voting  for  members  of  parliament  shall  choose  to  exert 
themselves,  they  will  direct  the  government  of  England. 
The  constitution  is  changed,  howsoever  little  evidence  of 
the  change  may  be  furnished  by  the  composition,  or  the 
acts,  of  the  first  reformed  parliament.  The  present,  then, 
is  worth  but  little  attention  when  compared  with  the  future. 
Those  who,  taking  the  narrowest  view  of  affairs,  treat  the 
present  as  if  there  were  neither  a  past  nor  a  future,  may 
be  pleased  or  dissatisfied  with  things  as  they  are  ;  but  the 
prospects  of  the  English  as  a  nation  will  not  be  discovered 
by  discussing  present  party  politics.  Let  us,  therefore, 
having  looked  back,  now  look  forward  ;  steadily,  without 
affection  or  fear,  so  as  to  form  just  opinions  on  a  subject  in 
which  are  interested,  not  the  English  alone,  but  also  the 
French,  the  Germans,  the  Poles,  trampled  on  and  scattered  ; 
every  one,  of  whatever  country,  who  rejoices  in  the  pro- 
gress of  civilization,  every  friend  of  liberty  in  the  world, 
every  miserable  slave  if  he  did  but  know  it,  and  all  the 
oppressors,  as  they  may  learn  too  late. 

The  new  constitution  is  neither  an  oligarchy  nor  a  de- 
mocracy. In  what  then  is  to  consist  the  force  of  the  gov- 
ernment? 

An  oligarchy  may  be  maintained  either  by  soldiers  or 
corruption.  Soldiers  are  out  of  the  case  in  England  ;  for 
with  no  other  force  to  maintain  the  government,  hundreds 
of  thousands  would  be  required,  while  it  is  hardly  doubtful 
that,  ere  long,  those  who  can,  when  they  please,  direct  the 
government,  will  insist  on  a  diminution  of  the  army.  And, 
as  to  corruption,  it  is  easy  to  see,  first,  that  the  jobs  and 
monopolies  which  were  insufficient  to  preserve  the  old  con- 
stitution, would,  if  maintained,  be  entirely  thrown  away 
upon  the  much  greater  number  who  can  now  vote  for 
members  of  parliament;  secondly,  that  the  new  govern- 
ment of  the  uneasy  class  will  lose  no  time  in  cutting  away 
jobs  and  monopolies.  The  whig  ministry  lately  declared, 
thai  the  goverpmeni  of  England  should  no  longer  he  carried 
on  by  patronage:  they  will  he  made  to  keep   their  word, 

mer  or  later. 

A   democracy   requires    neither  guards  nor  corruption. 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH.  117 

being  supported  by  the  affection  of  the  whole  people.  But 
the  new  constitution  excludes  from  legislative  power  a 
great  majority  of  the  people,  the  whole  body,  we  may  say, 
of  the  working  classes  :  it  must  want  the  force  which  main- 
tains a  democracy. 

Thus,  on  the  most  general  grounds,  we  may  conclude, 
that  the  new  constitution  will  not  last ;  but  let  us  come  to 
particulars. 

By  the  new  constitution,  instead  of  three,  there  are  but 
two  orders  in  the  state.  Power  has  been  taken  from  what 
was  the  highest  class,  and  the  mockery  of  power  from  what 
was  the  lowest  class.  We  must  now  speak  only  of  two 
orders,  the  higher  and  the  lower,  the  rulers  and  the  gov- 
erned. 

Who  formed  this  mongrel  government  ?  Who  bestowed 
the  power  of  legislation  upon  too  many  for  an  oligarchy,  too 
few  for  a  democracy  ?  Was  it  the  class  who  now,  on  paper 
at  least,  are  omnipotent?  Certainly  not.  Could  they  have 
extorted  the  new  charter,  unaided  by  those  whom  it  does 
not  acknowledge  ?  Certainly  not.  The  reform  bill  was 
carried  by  physical  force ;  and  those  who  compose  the 
physical  force  know  this,  are  proud  of  it,  boast  of  it,  and 
will  never  forget  it.  Did  they  approve  of  the  bill  ?  As  a 
step,  yes ;  but  merely  as  a  step,  declaring  that  they  had 
rather  no  bill  than  this  bill,  if  it  were  to  be  a  final  measure. 
Universal  suffrage,  was,  is,  and  will  be  the  object  of  the 
working  classes.  Assemble  a  body  of  them,  and  say — Is 
a  pauper,  an  ignorant,  hungry,  gloomy  slave,  qualified  to 
choose  who  shall  make  the  laws  ?  No,  they  will  answer ; 
but  with  universal  suffrage  the  law-makers  will  take  care 
that  there  be  no  paupers :  universal  suffrage  we  consider 
a  security,  the  only  security,  for  universal  ease,  instruction, 
and  content.  But,  good  people,  with  universal  suffrage, 
you,  the  working  class,  who  form  so  great  a  majority, 
would  be  the  only  class  represented  in  parliament ;  you 
would  make  laws  for  the  sake  of  your  class  alone,  laws  not 
good,  perhaps  bad,  for  the  other  classes. — They  reply: 
That  is  the  very  point :  your  objection  to  universal  suffrage 
is  our  objection  to  a  limited  suffrage  :  the  higher  class,  we 
fear,  will  make  laws  for  the  sake  of  themselves  alone,  laws 
not  good,  perhaps  bad,  for  us.  Besides,  we  are  told  con- 
tinually by  the  classes  above  us,  that  what  is  good  for 
them  must  be  good  for  us  :  we  think  so  ;  and  therefore,  say 
we,  let  all  vote  for  the  good  of  all.  Are  we  ignorant  ?  in- 
struct us:  discontented?  mend  our  condition:   dishonest, 


118  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

you  say?  give  us  rights  and  enjoyments  to  value.  Univer- 
sal suffrage,  we  believe,  will  do  all  this;  but  at  any  rate,  we, 
who  know  our  strength,  are  resolved  to  try  the  experiment. 

Such  is  the  feeling  of  the  working  classes.  Will  the 
middle  or  uneasy  class  attempt  to  preserve  their  monopoly 
of  power?  Not  without  great  dishonesty;  for  they  owe 
their  charter  to  the  working  class,  who  won  it  for  them  on 
a  complete  understanding,  that  it  should  be  a  step,  and  no- 
thing but  a  step,  in  reform.  The  physical  force,  exhausted 
by  three  years  of  excitement,  has  not  yet  asked  for  an  cx- 
tention  of  the  suffrage.  Until  this  demand  shall  be  made, 
nothing  may  happen  to  disturb  the  subsisting  union  be- 
tween the  middle  and  the  working  classes  ;  but  when  the 
demand  shall  be  made,  if  it  be  resisted,  if  the  petitions  of  the 
majority  be  met  by  counter-petitions  from  the  select  few, 
then  must  a  violent  quarrel  take  place  between  the  two 
classes.  Traitors  and  knaves  would  be  the  merited  terms 
bestowed  on  the  minority.  But  minorities,  when  power  is 
in  question,  are  deaf  to  the  voice  of  reproach.  If  the  new 
constituency  should  have  nothing  to  fear  except  bad  names, 
they  would  not,  probably,*  compel  their  representatives  to 
■extend  the  franchise  ;  but  we  shall  readily  perceive,  that 
•the  majority  have  a  better  assurance  of  good  faith  in  the 
minority,  than  the  right  to  call  the  in  traitors  and  knaves. 

The  rulers  and  the  governed  will  no  longer  be  separated 
by  an  intervening  class.  Except  in  political  power,  the 
Jess  rich  of  the  ruling  order  are  on  a  level  with  the  less 
poor  of  the  subject  order.  None  of  the  circumstances  can 
exist,  which  formerly  placed  the  physical  force  at  the  dis- 
posal of  those  who  made  the  laws.  A  daily  and  familiar 
intercourse  must  take  place  between  the  two  orders ;  and 
whatever  the  inferior  order  may  suffer,  they  will  attribute 
to  the  selfishness  or  malice  of  the  others.  In  the  next  place, 
the  property  and  persons  of  the  new  ruling  order  are  at 
the  mercy  of  the  new  subject  order.  Nol  that  the  position 
of  the  pooresl  class,  as  to  the  persons  and  property  of  the 
other  claa  es,  Is  changed,  but  the  pooresl  class  may  now 
have  ;i  motive  for  attacking  persons  and  property  which 
were  always  a1  their  mercy.  By  the  old  constitution, 
power  was  given  to  individual  wen  lib ;  by  the  new  one,  the 
aggregate  of  wealth  will  be  represented.  Instead  of  one 
vi-i  y  rich  man  possessing  greal  power,  fifty  persons  of 
moderate  wealth  will  possess  some  power.  Now  the  per- 
son and  property  of  a  greal  borougnmonger  were  not  cn- 
>rea  bj  any  sudden  anger  of  the  poor  towards  him; 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH.  119 

but  a  farmer,  a  manufacturer,  a  dealer  of  whatever  kind 
almost,  to  whom  the  new  charter  gives  the  suffrage,  must 
live  by  day  and  night  in  the  midst  of  the  excluded,  and  his 
property  must  at  all  times  be  subject  to  attacks  from  them. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  richer  class  of  people  at  Preston 
would  have  returned  the  heir  of  the  house  of  Stanley  at  the 
election  of  1830,  rather  than  that  very  ignorant  and  foolish 
demagogue  Mr.  Hunt,  if  they  had  not  been  afraid  of  the 
populace :  they  were  afraid  that  their  factories  would 
be  burned  if  they  should  take  part  against  the  popular 
candidate.  In  1830,  just  q,[ter  the  three  days  of  Paris,  the 
higher  order  at  Preston  had  a  foretaste  of  what  the  elective 
bodies  of  all  such  towns  may  expect,  whenever  the  lower 
order  shall  be  in  a  state  of  excitement.  That  the  voters 
for  county  members  should  be  affected  in  the  same  way, 
seems  probable,  when  one  reflects  that  in  a  good  part  of  the 
south  of  England  wages  have  been  raised  and  kept  up  by 
means  of  stack  burning. 

If  it  were  to  come  to  a  trial  of  strength  between  the  two 
parties  in  open  warfare  (which  God  forbid  !),  the  result 
must  inevitably  be  favourable  to  the  great  majority.  Re- 
trenchment, which  among  other  things  means  fewer  sol- 
diers, is  one  of  the  great  objects  of  the  new  ruling  class. 
Besides,  the  education,  as  some  call  it,  of  the  poor,  has  had 
this  good  effect, — that  soldiers,  though  taken  from  the  most 
degraded  class,  have  now  some  feeling  for  other  people,  as 
well  as  some  political  notions,  among  which  is  a  suspicion 
that,  in  time,  perhaps,  officers  may  be  taken  from  the  ranks. 
Already  the  new  parliament  has  declared,  in  opposition  to 
the  whig  cabinet,  against  the  flogging  of  soldiers.  Without 
flogging,  degraded  men  cannot  be  made  to  observe  military 
discipline ;  and  with  the  end  of  flogging,  therefore,  must 
come  a  better  selection  of  men  for  soldiers.  Thus,  as  the 
moral  character  of  the  soldiers  shall  improve,  as  they  shall 
learn  to  respect  themselves,  they  will  learn  also  to  respect 
others ;  and  it  will  become  more  and  more  difficult  to  em- 
ploy them  in  keeping  down  the  bulk  of  the  people.  A 
national  guard  has  been  talked  of  for  the  protection  of  the 
new  ruling  order ;  but  a  national  guard,  from  which  the 
hardy  poor  were  excluded,  would  be,  as  anti-jacobin  Wind- 
ham said  to  the  armed  shopkeepers  forty  years  ago,  a 
great  depository  of  panic.  Moreover,  there  is  the  dis- 
covery of  barricades  ;  on  which,  however,  I  for  one  set  less 
value  than  most  people,  except  as  it  will  maintain  the  con- 
fidence of  the  poorer  order  in  their  own  strength. 


120  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

Bat  a  trial  of  strength  between  the  two  orders  is  highly 
improbable.  The  proceedings  by  which  the  reform  bill 
was  carried  show  that  the  government  of  England  is  liable 
to  dictation  from  the  physical  force,  whenever  that  force 
chooses  to  exert  itself.  I  say  England,  because  the  lia- 
bility in  question  depends  on  a  state  of  political  economy 
which  is  peculiar  to  England.  In  no  country  does  so  large 
a  proportion  of  the  people  live  from  hand  to  mouth  by  pur- 
suits not  agricultural.  In  America,  in  Ireland,  in  any  of 
the  states  of  Europe,  except  Holland  perhaps,  a  pretty 
general  insurrection  of  the  poorer  class  might  take  place, 
and  might  even  last  some  time,  without  producing  very 
serious  consequences.  Supposing  it  to  produce  a  temporary 
stagnation,  or  even  a  stoppage,  of  credit  and  business,  still 
most  of  the  people  would  have  food  at  hand,  while  the  re- 
mainder, being  few  in  proportion  to  the  producers  of  food, 
might  be  victualled  without  much  difficulty.  But  in  Eng- 
land, where  the  proportion  of  rural  population  is  so  small, 
where  such  great  masses  of  the  peopie  are  congregated  out 
of  the  way  of  obtaining  food,  save  by  the  regular  course  of 
industry,  and  where,  by  reason  of  the  most  comprehensive 
combination  of  power  and  the  most  minute  distribution  of 
employments,  the  regular  course  of  industry  depends  so 
much  upon  confidence  and  credit;  there,  I  say,  any  social 
convulsion,  if  it  should  last  but  a  week,  must  produce  a  se- 
ries of  convulsions,  one  more  violent  than  the  other.  Stop, 
for  but  three  days,  the  course  of  credit,  trade,  and  industry 
which  feeds  the  population  of  the  great  towns  in  England, 
and  in  three  days  more  that  population  would  be  frantic : 
it  is  needless  to  dwell  on  the  consequences.  But  how  easily, 
does  it  appear,  might  such  a  stoppage  occur,  when  one  re- 
flects on  the  sensitive  nature  of  credit,  on  the  misery  and 
discontent  of  the  poorer  order,  on  their  common  object,  and, 
above  all,  on  their  just  apprehension  of  the  means  by  which 
tlic  ur\v  constitution  \\;is  torn  from  the  old  oligarch yi 
During  the  interregnum,  as  it  is  called,  of  1831,  the  walls 
of  London,  Manchester,  Birmingham,  and  oilier  great 
towns,  were  placarded  in  these  words — "  To  stop  the  duke, 
go  forgold."  The  people,  by  means  of  their  savings'  banks, 
did  go  for  gold  to  the  Bank  of  England ;  and  so  did  help,  at 
.  to  Btop  the  duke.  Some  of  his  friends,  selfish  mad- 
men, who  thought  their  own  property  in  land  secure  at  all 
events,  and  some  tory  underlings  whose  obscurity  was  a 
kind  of  protection  to  them,  would  have  braved  this  attack 
upon  credit;  but  the  new  ruling  order,  whose  daily  bread 


POLITICAL    TKOSPECTS    OP    THE    ENGLISH.  121 

rests  upon  industry,  trade,  and  credit,  to  whom  the  right  of 
voting  is  as  nothing  when  compared  with  peace  and  order* 
will  never,  we  may  believe,  provoke  a  serious  disturbance. 

From  all  these  considerations,  only  one  conclusion  can  be 
drawn  ;  namely,  that  the  new  aristocracy  have  no  existence 
but  on  paper  ;  that  if  gratitude,  and  a  sense  of  honour, 
should  not  impel  them  to  extend  the  suilrage,  if  they  should 
be  deaf  to  reproach  and  to  such  reasoning  as  is  here  pre- 
sented to  them,  they  must  yield,  nevertheless,  to  force  or 
fear,  sooner  or  later. 

Let  us  suppose  the  new  ruling  class  wise  in  time  ;  that 
having  wrested  power  from  an  oligarchy  by  means  of  the 
physical  force,  they  admit  all  men  to  an  equal  share  in  the 
power  of  making  laws.  That  would  be  a  pure  democracy. 
In  a  democracy,  the  laws  are  made  by  the  greatest  number. 
In  England,  the  greatest  number  consists  of  labourers,  poor, 
discontented,  and  ignorant.  The  laws  of  England,  then, 
would  be  made  for  the  supposed  advantage  of  the  poor. 
To  a  very  poor  man,  whose  sole  property  was  his  labour, 
who  by  constant  labour  was  able  to  earn  not  more  than 
enough  to  support  a  miserable  existence,  whose  only  pros- 
pect was  want  in  his  old  age  and  a  career  of  wretchedness 
for  his  children  ;  to  a  man  in  this  condition,  laws,  which 
should  cause  a  revolution  of  property,  would  appear  the  best. 
Generous  minds,  full  of  sympathy  for  the  miserable,  and 
a  love  of  equality,  may  be  blind  to  this  conclusion  ;  others, 
bigoted  in  attachment  to  democracy,  may  deny  its  truth, 
which,  however, is  plain  to  those  who  think  as  well  as  feel, and 
think  without  prejudice.  Even  now,  some  disposition  is 
shown,  ay,  even  by  the  intelligent  but  uneasy  class,  to  make 
laws  wdiich  would  be  most  unjust  to  the  owners  of  some  kinds 
of  property.  I  allude  to  the  proposed  depreciation  of  money, 
which,  in  proportion  to  its  extent,  would  diminish  the 
receipts  of  those  who  are  entitled  to  fixed  payments.  Biit 
if  uneasiness  put  such  notions  into  the  heads  of  the  new 
ruling  order,  what  may  be  expected  from  the  misery  of 
those  who  would  govern  under  the  future  democracy  ? 
The  question  is  answered  by  reference  to  arguments  used 
in  support  of  the  plan  for  depreciating  the  value  of  money. 
'•  A  great  robbery,"  say  the  advocates  of  depreciation,  "was 
committed  thirteen  years  ago  by  the  vile  boroughmongers, 
who,  by  raising  the  value  of  money,  enabled  all  creditors  to 
exact  from  their  debtors  more  than  was  due :  we  now  pro- 
pose an  act  of  justice,  by  returning  to  the  standard  in  which 
so  many  contracts  were  made,  in  which,  above  all,  great 

10 


122  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

part  of  the  national  debt  was  incurred  ;  but  not  of  complete 
justice,  since  this  measure  will  not  give  back  to  its  rightful 
owners  that  which  has  been  wrongfully  taken  from  them 
during  thirteen  years."  Unquestionably,  during  thirteen 
years,  many  receivers  of  fixed  payments  have  obtained 
more,  and  a  great  deal  more,  than  they  ever  contracted  to 
receive  ;  but  during  the  thirteen  years,  many  new  contracts 
have  been  made  ;  and  if  the  value  of  money  were  now  re- 
stored to  the  old  standard,  the  creditors  under  these  new 
contracts  would  be  cheated,  just  as  debtors  were  cheated 
before.  To  repair  one  great  robbery,  therefore,  another 
great  robbery  is  proposed.  That  the  robbery  which  has 
been  perpetrated  was  the  work  of  the  "  vile  boroughmon- 
gers  "  may  be  true  ;  but  see  to  what  this  argument  leads. 
"Every  work  of  plunder  performed  by  the  vile  borough- 
mongers  is  liable  to  be  overhauled  ;"  say  you  so  ?  Then 
what  becomes  of  the  national  debt?  Was  the  capital,  of 
which  the  interest  is  now  paid  by  the  nation,  spent  for  the 
good  of  the  nation  ?  Was  it  not  squandered,  or  rather 
cunningly  laid  out,  for  the  preservation  of  boroughmonger- 
ing  ?  Did  the  nation  agree  to  replace  that  capital,  or  to 
pay  thirty  millions  a  year  for  ever?  When  that  debt,  mis- 
called national,  was  contracted,  the  nation  had  no  voice  in 
public  affairs.  It  follows,  that  the  nation  is  not  bound  to 
pay  a  debt  which  was  incurred  by  a  faction  for  anti-national 
purposes.  Nay,  further,  if  every  arrangement  of  the 
boroughmongers  is  to  be  vitiated  by  proof  of  its  injustice, 
to  whom  belong  those  great  estates,  which  have  been  kept 
together  by  means  of  provisions  out  of  the  public  purse,  for 
daughters  and  younger  sons  ?  To  the  nation,  which  has 
paid  for  them  over  and  over  again,  by  salaries  to  those 
among  whom  they  must  otherwise  have  been  divided. 
Once  acknowledge  the  principle  on  which  some  of  the 
uneasy  class  now  propose  to  alter  the-  value  of  money,  and 
there  would  be  no  end  of  confiscation.  Bu1  this  principle] 
which  "men  of  property  and  education,"  being  uneasy,  are 
not  afraid  to  assert,  would  be  all  in  all  with  a  legislature 
moved  by  the  wretched.    Nor  can  one  deny,  having  regard 

to  nothing   but  the  truth,  thai  many  of  those   who  actually 

compose  the  poorer  order  in  England,  would  gain  im- 
mensely by  Bpunging  out  the  national  debt,  abolishing 
tythes,  and  converting  all  the  greal  estates  into  national 
property,  which  should  be  sold  piecemeal  at  the  rate  of 
twenty  shillings  per  acre.  The  example  of  Prance  is 
before  us.     At  this  time,  indeed,  the  poorer  order  in  France 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGUSII.  123 

is  very  miserable  ;  but  those  who  composed  that  order  fifty 
years  ago,  the  wild  animals  of  Labruyere,  were  deeply  in- 
debted to  confiscation  ;  and  I  have  spoken  here  only  of  that 
portion  of  the  English  poor,  who  should  obtain  land,  debt 
free  and  tythe  free,  for  twenty  shillings  per  acre. 

But  now  turn  to  the  other  side  of  the  picture.  How 
many  comfortable  people  must  be  made  wretched  by  such 
a  transfer  of  property  as  would  make  some  of  the  wretched 
comfortable  !  The  general  transfer  of  property  from  the 
rich  to  the  poor,  which  took  place  in  France,  may  have 
been  consistent  with  the  principle  of  utility,  the  greatest 
happiness  of  the  greatest  number  ;  but  in  the  present  social 
state  of  England,  any  large  measure  of  confiscation  would 
injure  the  majority.  So  barbarous  was  the  state  of  industry 
in  France  half  a  century  back,  so  many  checks  to  produc- 
tion did  the  state  of  property  occasion,  that  a  general 
transfer  of  property,  by  removing  those  checks  and  by 
stimulating  industry,  led  at  once  to  an  increase  of  produc- 
tion :  property  had  changed  hands,  but  the  nation  was 
richer  than  before.  In  England,  on  the  contrary,  where 
millions  of  people  have,  one  may  say,  been  called  into  ex- 
istence by  machinery,  where  capital  does  so  much  more 
than  labour,  where  production  has  been  carried  so  far,  and 
depends  so  closely  on  the  use  of  large  masses  of  capital  in 
combination,  where  the  relations  of  industry  are  become  so 
complicated  and  delicate  ;  here  any  legislative  attack  upon 
property  would  cause  a  decrease  of  production.  If  prop- 
erty were  rendered  insecure  in  England,  capital,  that  it 
was  possible  to  hoard,  would  be  hoarded  ;  capital,  that  was 
not  fixed,  would  be  moved  to  other  countries.  That  very 
skilful  application  of  capital,  that  most  productive  applica- 
tion of  labour,  which  enables  less  than  one-third  of  the 
English  people  to  raise  food  for  the  remainder,  depends  on 
security  of  property.  The  great  steam-power  of  England 
would  be  next  to  annihilated,  if  property  should  become 
insecure.  Thus,  with  respect  to  England,  confiscation  is 
synonymous  with  destruction.  Make  a  scramble  for  prop- 
erty in  England,  and  the  best  part  of  the  thing  to  be 
scrambled  for  would  disappear.  One  may  imagine  the 
result ;  the  scenes  of  contention  and  suffering,  which  must 
end  in  England's  ruin  ;  which  might  make  England  a  hunt- 
ing field,  or  a  place  fit  to  receive  convicts  from  America. 
But  I  pass  on,  with  a  hope  that  some  other,  having  words 
at  command,  may  describe  the  prospect  as  plainly  as  I  own 
I  see  it.     Who  is  there  that  does  not  see   it,  clearly  or 


124  POLITICAL    TfiOSPECTS    OF   THE    ENGLISH. 

vaguely  ?  Why  do  we  hear  continually  in  England  of  ap- 
prehensions for  the  future,  all  the  more  serious  for  not  being 
exactly  defined  ?  And  who,  that  will  take  the  trouble  to 
think  on  this  subject,  but  acknowledges  the  blackness  of  the 
prospect  ? 

Still,  fearful  as  is  the  prospect,  great  as  the  danger  ap- 
pears, there  may  be  a  way  of  escape.  The  danger  being 
thoroughly  understood,  some  means  of  averting  it  may  be 
discovered.  The  English  are  not  apt  to  despond.  In  know- 
ledge, judgment,  and  moral  courage,  they  surpass  all  other 
nations,  according  to  my  humble  opinion.  But  this  occasion 
will  tax  their  best  qualities  to  the  uttermost.  In  England, 
it  is  no  longer  a  speculation  whether  democracy  be  consist- 
ent with  high  civilization.  This  is  the  experiment  which 
the  English  are  about  to  try.  Who  is  there  that  does  not 
wish  them  success  1  If  they  should  succeed,  then  all  the 
talk  about  the  difference  between  old  and  new  countries  will 
go  for  nothing,  anywhere  ;  and,  in  time,  the  greatest  hap- 
piness of  all  will  be  everywhere  secured :  if  they  should 
fail,  misery  and  vice  will  be  deemed  the  natural  lot  of  the 
greatest  part  of  mankind ;  and  the  world,  save  as  England 
may  suffer  by  the  experiment,  must  go  on  as  before.  A 
single  error  may  cause  the  failure  of  this  great  experiment. 
It  becomes,  therefore,  the  duty  of  every  man,  who  has  re- 
flected on  the  subject,  to  make  known  his  view  of  the  best 
course  of  proceeding. 

The  misery  and  ignorance  of  the  bulk  of  the  English 
people  render  them  unfit  to  enjoy,  or  rather  fit  them  to 
abuse,  a  great  extension  of  the  suffrage.  If  their  circum* 
stances  wrere  as  easy  as  those  of  the  working  class  in 
America,  they  might  be  better  instructed  than  American 
workmen  (wrhose  solitary  mode  of  life  is  very  unfavourable 
to  learning),  and  therefore  better  qualified  to  take  part  in 
choosing  the  legislature.  In  that  case,  there  would  be  no 
objection  to  universal  suffrage,  every  thing  in  its  favour  re- 
maining as  at  present 

Admitting  this,  two  practical  questions  arise. 

First — Is  it  possible  that  arrangements  should  be  made, 
to  render  the  English  working  class  comfortable,  satisfied, 
and  as  wise,  at  least,  as  tin;  working  elass  in  America? 

Secondly — Is  it  possible  that  such  arrangements  should 
be  made  in  time  ?  Or,  in  other  words,  may  universal  snl- 
fra  ••■  be  po  tponed  until  such  arrangements  shall  have  pro* 
duced  the  desired  effect;  that  is,  until  the  whole  people 


POLITICAL    PROSPF.CTS    OF    TII3    ENGLISH.  125 

shall  be  qualified,  by  ease,  content,  and  knowledge,  to  vote 
for  members  of  parliament? 

Let  both  of  these  questions  be  answered  in  the  affirma- 
tive ;  and  it  will  appear  that  democracy  may  be  established 
in  England  without  the  least  check  to  civilization,  without 
the  least  injury  to  any,  with  the  greatest  benefit  to  all : 
decide  either  of  these  questions  in  the  negative,  and  England 
becomes,  first  a  field  of  battle,  and  then  a  waste,  compared 
with  the  present. 

The  latter  of  these  questions,  though  by  much  the  less 
difficult  to  answer,  takes  precedence  in  the  order  of  time. 
The  subject  class  may  presently  demand  universal  suffrage  ; 
and  they  have  the  means  either  of  enforcing  their  demand 
or  of  producing  that  convulsion  to  which  universal  suffrage 
may  lead,  if  it  should  come  too  soon.  Resistance,  then,  to 
the  demand  for  universal  suffrage  might  be  the  shortest  and 
the  wrorst  way  to  universal  suffrage.  Which  is  the  longest, 
and  therefore  the  best  way  to  the  end  of  a  journey  that 
must,  at  all  events,  be  performed  either  quickly  or  slowly? 
But,  though  delay,  postponement  be  the  object,  there  is  not 
a  year  to  lose.  To  hesitate  about  taking  the  long  and  the 
safe  course,  would  be  like  a  decision  in  favour  of  the  short 
and  dangerous  one.  This  is  why  the  means  of  postponing 
universal  suffrage  without  serious  disturbance,  deserve  to 
be  considered  before  measures  for  rendering  universal  suf- 
frage safe,  if  not  desirable. 

Admitting  that  a  demand  for  universal  suffrage  would  be 
irresistible  if  made  in  earnest,  there  appears  but  one  way  of 
postponing  universal  suffrage  ;  namely,  by  preventing  the 
demand  for  it.  Force  being  out  of  the  question,  may  not 
the  bulk  of  the  people  be  persuaded  to  abstain  from  de- 
manding that,  which,  after  a  while,  they  might  receive  as 
a  matter  of  course  ?  Government,  said  lately  a  young 
whig  nobleman  when  speaking  of  Ireland,  must  be  feared 
in  order  to  be  loved.  He  meant,  of  course,  in  order  to  be 
obeyed;  and  the  sentiment  was  not  so  monstrous,  consider- 
ing the  ignorance,  cowardice,  and  slavishness  of  the  long 
oppressed  people  of  Ireland.  But  the  English  have  been 
"educated ;"  they  are  a  brave,  though  not  a  martial  race  ; 
and  they  are  bent  on  moving  onwards  to  democracy  or  ruin. 
Their  government  may  fear  them  ;  but  fear  will  not  make 
them  submit  to  their  government.  For  the  first  time  in 
Europe,  the  people  must  be  guided,  if  at  all,  by  persuasion 
and  kindness.     What  these  may  effect  is  now  the  question. 

The  actors  in  this  case  must  be  a  majority  of  the  reformed 
House  of  Commons,  as  soon  as  that  house   shall  truly 


126  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

represent  property  in  the  aggregate.  Let  us  suppose  the 
House  of  Commons  so  constituted,  anxious  to  persuade,  not 
force,  the  poorer  orders  to  abstain  from  demanding  univer- 
sal suffrage.  In  that  case,  what  would  the  house  do?  what 
would  it  leave  undone?  what  would  be  its  principle  of  action? 
In  that  case,  the  representatives  of  the  richer  order  would 
adopt  this  principle  of  action : — Such  legislation  as  must 
take  place,  if  parliament  had  been  chosen  by  universal  suf- 
frage, all  the  people  being  jit  to  exercise  the  right  of  voting. 
Jeremy  Bentham  would  have  called  it  the  postponement- 
of-universal-suffrage  principle  :  its  efficiency  will  be  seen  by 
noticing  a  few  of  its  inevitable  consequences. 

1.  Some  radical  member  proposes,  that  buildings  and 
other  objects  of  curiosity,  the  property  of  the  nation,  should 
be  open  to  the  public  without  payment.  How  would  the 
house  decide?  Would  they  let  the  poor  visit  Westminster 
Abbey,  St.  Paul's,  and  the  Tower  ?  or  would  they,  like 
former  parliaments,  vote  for  the  "vested  rights"  of  deans 
^ind  door-keepers  ?  According  to  the  above  principle,  the 
decision  would  be  in  favour  of  a  right  which  has  long  been 
withheld  from  the  poor.  If  parliament  had  been  elected  by 
universal  suffrage,  all  the  electors  being  lit  to  choose  repre- 
sentatives, a  proposal  to  this  effect  would  be  adopted  as  soon 
as  made.  Such  a  measure,  paltry  as  it  might  seem  to  "  great 
statesmen,"  wrould  go  some  way  in  persuading  the  poor  to 
abstain  from  demanding  universal  suffrage. 

2.  Another  radical  observes,  that  the  parks  at  the  west 
end  of  London  are  very  pleasant  to  the  rich  who  live  near 
them ;  that  the  poor,  who  crowd  the  east  end  of  London, 
would  find  a  park  in  their  neighbourhood  very  pleasant ;  and 
that  it  would  be  easy  to  give  them  one,  not  an  atom  of  enjoy- 
ment being  taken  from  the  rich.  Bya  parliament  in  which  all 
were  represented, the  proposal  would  be  received  with  accla- 
mations. And  why  not  a  park  for  the  smoke-dried  people  <>f 
Manchester,  who  a1  present  can  breathe  fresh  air  only  by 
tramping  up  and  down  a  dusty  <>r  muddy  road  I  Joseph 
Hume  complains  of  the  expense.  The  abolition  of  a  few 
sinecures  wpuld  settle  that  point.  If,  however,  public  funds 
may  not  be  diverted  to  public  purposes,  if  no  public  money 
is  to  be  spent  for  the  comforl  of  any  but  the  rich,  then  let 
the  rich  pay  for  universal  suffrage:  you  would  find  it  a  dear 

mi,  M  r.  I  lumc. 
::.    \  third  democratic  conservative   suggests,  that  the 
coil  of  postage  for  letters  shall  be  defrayed  by  the  govern- 
ment ;  mat  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich  shall  send  and 
receive  letters  free  of  postage.     What!  extend  to  all  the 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH.  127 

privilege  of  franking?  Yes  ;  and  because,  for  one  reason, 
you  would  destroy  the  privilege  by  extending  it.  In 
America,  universal  suffrage  promises  to  establish  universal 
freedom  of  postage  ;  and  we  are  supposing  the  English 
parliament  to  legislate  as  if  it  had  been  elected  by  univer- 
sal suffrage.  But  the  frightful  expense  !  The  Americans  are 
not  frightened  at  the  expense  ;  but  they  have  no  great  army 
to  support ;  nor  would  the  English  have  to  support  a  great 
army  if  the  poorer  order  were  gratified  by  such  measures 
as  this.  Moreover,  one  might  easily  prove  that  a  remission 
of  taxes  equal  to  the  cost  of  this  measure,  would  be  far  less 
advantageous  to  the  public  than  this  measure,  however 
costly.  But,  at  all  events,  as  this  measure  would  be  ap- 
proved by  a  parliament  representing  all,  all  being  fit  to  be 
represented,  so  therefore  would  a  parliament,  chosen  only 
by  the  richer  order,  approve  of  it,  having  regard  to  the 
postponement-of-universal-suffrage  principle. 

This  principle  is  not  new  :  it  is  eighteen  hundred  years 
old  at  least ;  meaning,  do  as  you  icould  be  done  by.  For 
proclaiming  this  principle,  Christ  was  crucified,  Paul  striped, 
and  Sidney  beheaded.  For  neglecting  this  principle,  Eng- 
land was  punished  by  losing  the  affection  of  America,  the 
French  nobility  by  the  loss  of  their  estates,  Charles  Stuart 
and  Louis  Capet  by  the  loss  of  their  heads.  Do,  one  might 
say  to  those  who  will  soon  direct  the  House  of  Commons, 
do  unto  the  poorer  class  as  you,  being  in  their  places,  would 
have  them,  in  your  place,  do  unto  you.  Honestly,  steadily, 
boldly  abjuring  deceit,  hesitation,  and  fear,  follow  up  this 
generous  principle  of  legislation  ;  and  the  poorer  order  will 
wait  for  universal  suffrage,  though  miserable  for  a  time,  still 
with  patience. 

Supposing  the  reformed  House  of  Commons  compelled 
to  adopt  this  effectual  method  of  postponing  universal 
suffrage,  yet  they  might  be  troubled  in  their  course  by  a 
class  of  men,  whose  object  seems  to  be  mischief  for  mis- 
chief's sake.  Troubled  indeed,  but  not  more  than  troubled, 
not  checked,  still  less  stopped.  Even  the  mere  annoyance 
would  not  last  six  months.  By  passing  a  few  bills,  such  as 
a  parliament  elected  by  universal  suffrage,  content  and  in- 
struction would  surely  pass,  the  reformed  parliament  would 
destroy  that  power  to  tease,  to  create  trouble  and  mischief, 
which  the  feebleness  and  pride  of  a  cabinet  of  lords  has 
bestowed  upon  two  classes,  the  ignorant  demagogues  and 
wild  conservatives:  harmless  grumblers  and  broken  jobbers 
they  would  be  called,  if,  indeed,  they  were  not  utterly  for- 


1'2~S  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH. 

gotten,  after  one  year  of  genuine  Christian  legislation  by 
the  reformed  House  of  Commons. 

The  question  that  remains  is  by  far  more  difficult.  May 
arrangements  be  made  to  qualify  the  bulk  of  the  English 
people  for  choosing  representatives  in  parliament  ? 

Volumes  have  been  written  to  prove,  that  arrangements 
for  that  purpose  could  not  have  any  permanent  effect ;  and 
tons  of  books  and  pamphlets,  reckoning  but  one  copy  of 
each,  to  suggest  various  measures  for  the  cure  of  poverty 
and  ignorance.  Hitherto,  those  who  contend  that  the 
greatest  part  of  mankind  is  doomed  by  nature  to  misery  and 
degradation,  have  had  the  best  of  the  argument.  It  is  not 
necessary  on  this  occasion  to  interfere  between  these  two 
parties.  *  The  question  on  which  they  dispute  must  be 
settled  one  day  or  other.  Leaving  it  to  be  discussed  in  an 
English  parliament,  chosen  by  the  whole  people,  the  present 
object  is  to  ascertain  by  what  means  the  English  poorer 
order  may  be  qualified  to  take  a  part  in  that  discussion. 
The  present  question,  therefore,  though  more  difficult  than 
that  which  has  been  just  examined,  is  a  small  practical 
question,  when  compared  with  that  great  abstract  question 
which  divides  the  Malthusians  and  their  opponents  :  it  re- 
lates only  to  one  generation.  Truly,  if  a  way  should  be 
found  to  bestow  comfort  and  knowledge  upon  one  genera- 
tion of  the  poorer  class,  that  might  be  a  step  to  the  perma- 
nent cure  of  misery  and  vice  ;  but  sufficient  for  the  day  is 
the  evil  thereof:  the  present  difficulty  is  great  enough, 
though  trilling,  it  may  be,  when  compared  with  the  other. 
Let  us  then  limit  the  question. 

May  arrangements  be  made  to  bestow  comfort  and 
knowledge  on  one  generation  of  the  English  poorer  class  ? 

Yes,  without  doubt,  says  a  believer  in  the  omnipotence 
of  education  ;  increase  the  number  of  schools  for  the  poor, 
and  of  mechancs'  institutions;  send  teachers  into  the  rural 
districts ;  take  off  the  taxes  od  knowledge  ;  proceed — 

St"]>  friend;  all  this  is  supposed  to  have  been  done  with 
a  view  to  the  postponement  of  universal  suffrage. 

He  continues ;  Then  you  suppose  the  poor  taught,  that 
their  own  comfort  depends  on  themselves,  thai  their  well- 
being  is  in  their  own  hands,  that,  by  prudently  keeping  their 
numbers  under  the  demand  lor  their  services,  they  may 
;  high  wages, — 

Stop  again:  All  this  is  good,  maybe  necessary  for  the 

permanent    well-being  of   \}v   labouring  class ;    hut  the 

inable   prudence,  though   made   universal   to- 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF    THE    ENGLISH.  129 

morrow,  would  have  no  effect  on  wages  for  twenty  years 
to  come.  Would  you  prudently  get  rid  of  children  already 
born  ?  If  not,  you  propose  to  teach  prudence,  the  highest 
wisdom,  to  a  miserable  race,  without  leisure,  over-worked, 
anxious,  and  discontented  ;  to  make  the  cart  drag  the  horse  ; 
to  produce  a  cause  by  means  of  its  own  effect.  Prudence, 
wisdom  is  the  end  ;  the  means,  high  wages,  leisure,  peace 
of  mind  and  instruction.  A  world  of  trouble  has  been 
wasted  in  the  endeavour  to  instruct  the  wretched.  You 
must  begin  at  the  beginning.  Bestow  ease  on  the  working 
class,  and  then,  indeed,  you  may  teach  them  to  dread  the 
return  of  misery.  The  first  step  is  to  raise  wages.  "  When 
we  deliberate  about  the  means  of  introducing  intellectual 
and  moral  excellence  into  the  minds  of  the  principal  portion 
of  the  people,  one  of  the  first  things  which  we  are  bound 
to  provide  for  is  a  generous  and  animating  diet.  The 
physical  causes  must  go  along  with  the  moral ;  and  nature 
herself  forbids  that  you  should  make  a  wise  and  virtuous 
people  out  of  a  starving  one.  Men  must  be  happy  them- 
selves before  they  can  rejoice  in  the  happiness  of  others  : 
they  must  have  a  certain  vigour  of  mind  before  they  can, 
in  the  midst  of  habitual  suffering,  resist  a  presented  pleasure ; 
their  own  lives  and  means  of  well-being  must  be  worth 
something,  before  they  can  value,  so  as  to  respect,  the  life 
or  well-being  of  any  other  person.  This  or  that  individual 
may  be  an  extraordinary  individual,  and  exhibit  mental 
excellence  in  the  midst  of  wretchedness  ;  but  a  wretched 
and  excellent  people  never  yet  has  been  seen  on  the  face  of 
the  earth.  Though  far  from  fond  of  paradoxical  expres- 
sions, we  are  tempted  to  say  that  a  good  diet  is  a  necessary 
part  of  good  education  ;  for  in  one  very  important  sense, 
it  is  emphatically  true.  In  the  great  body  of  the  people, 
all  education  is  impotent  without  it."* 

The  first  step  is  to  raise  wages.  But  how  shall  wages 
be  raised,  except  either  by  increasing  the  amount  of  em- 
ployment, or  by  diminishing  the  number  of  labourers  ?  In 
no  other  way,  beyond  a  doubt ;  not  by  strikes  at  Man- 
chester, nor  by  Swing  fires  in  Kent ;  not  by  spade  hus- 
bandry, nor  by  paper  money  ;  not  by  giving  books  to  hungry 
paupers,  half-starved  weavers,  and  parish  apprentices,  nor 
by  accumulating  more  capital,  and  wasting  it  on  foreign 
loans  and  far  off  ruinous  speculations ;  but  by  increasing 

*  Art.  Education,  Supplement  to  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  by  James 
Mill,  Esq. 

17 


130  POLITICAL    PROSPECTS    OF   THE    ENGLISH. 

the  proportion  which  employment  bears  to  labour.  How" 
to  raise  immediately  the  proportion  which  employment 
bears  to  labour,  and  to  maintain  the  higher  proportion  for 
twenty  years  or  so  ;  this  is  the  question  on  which,  if  I  have 
taken  a  just  view  of  the  political  prospects  of  the  English, 
depends  their  existence  as  a  wealthy  and  civilized  nation. 

Here  I  must  refer  to  the  note,  in  which  1  have  sought  to 
explain  the  coincidence  in  England  of  overflowing  wealth 
with  extensive  uneasiness  and  wide-spread  misery.  In 
order  to  raise  wages  immediately,  the  field  for  the  employ- 
ment of  English  capital  and  labour  must  be  enlarged  ; 
whereby  profits,  and  the  rewards  of  many  services  not 
called  labour,  would  be  raised  at  the  same  time  as  the 
wages  of  labour.  The  whole  world  is  before  you.  Open 
new  channels  for  the  most  productive  employment  of  Eng- 
lish capital.  Let  the  English  buy  bread  from  every  people 
that  has  bread  to  sell  cheap.  Make  England,  for  all  that 
is  produced  by  steam,  the  work-shop  of  the  world.  If,  after 
this,  there  be  capital  and  people  to  spare,  imitate  the  an- 
cient Greeks  ;  take  a  lesson  from  the  Americans,  who,  as 
their  capital  and  population  increase,  find  room  for  both  by 
means  of  colonization.  You  have  abundance,  superabun- 
dance of  capital ;  provide  profitable  employment  for  it,  and 
you  will  improve  the  condition  of  all  classes  at  once.  In- 
stead of  lending  your  surplus  capital  to  foreign  states,  or 
wasting  it  in  South  American  mines,  whereby  no  additional 
employment  is  given  to  English  labour,  rather,  like  the 
Americans,  invest  it  in  colonization  ;  so  that,  as  it  flies  off, 
it  may  take  with  it,  and  employ  a  corresponding  amount 
of  surplus  labour,  if  there  be  any.  How  this  might  be 
done,  and  how  capital  so  invested  might  be  recovered  at 
pleasure,  is  stated  elsewhere,  but  cannot  be  thoroughly  un- 
derstood by  Englishmen  till  they  shall  learn  the  causes  of 
certain  peculiarities  in  the  social  condition  of  America. 
These,  also,  I  have  endeavoured  to  explain  in  some  of  the 
following  notes.  May  the  explanation  assist  to  point  out  a 
way,  by  which  the  English  shall  escape  from  that  corrupt- 
ing and  irritating  state  of  political  economy,  which  seems 
fit  to  precede  the  dissolution  of  empires  ! 


(  131  ) 


NOTE  VI. 

FREE  TRADE  IN  CORN,  AS  A  MEANS  OP  ENLARGING  THE 
FIELD  OF  EMPLOYMENT  FOR  ENGLISH  CAPITAL  AND 
LABOUR. 

Subject  of  this  note  stated — Wide  difference  between  facts  in  America  and 
the  English  theory  of  rent — American  theory  of  rent — Various  kinds  and 
degrees  of  competition  for  the  use  of  land — Facts — Effects  of  a  free  corn 
trade  on  the  several  kinds  of  competition  forthe  use  of  land — With  cheap 
bread,  the  rental  of  England  must  be  greater — Gradual  repeal  of  the  corn- 
laws  hurtful,  for  a  time,  to  landlords  and  farmers;  and  not  useful  to  any 
class  of  labourers — Sudden  repeal  of  the  corn-laws  beneficial  to  all  classes. 

With  respect  to  the  foreign  corn-trade  of  England,  there 
is  but  one  point  left  for  examination.  The  risk  of  depend- 
ing on  foreigners  for  the  staff  of  life,  the  wisdom  of  protect- 
ing domestic  agriculture,  the  folly  of  importing  corn  from 
abroad  when  you  can  reap  it  on  your  own  native  soil,  the 
injustice  of  allowing  foreign  farmers,  who  are  lightly  taxed, 
to  compete  in  your  own  market  with  your  own  farmers,  who 
are  heavily  taxed  ;  all  these  fallacies  having  been  thoroughly 
exposed  by  English  writers ;  and  the  mischievous  influence 
of  the  corn-laws  in  limiting  the  English  field  of  production 
being  felt,  if  not  understood,  by  the  new  ruling  order,  no 
one  doubts  that  the  reform  parliament,  as  soon  as  it  shall 
truly  represent  the  new  class  of  voters,  will  establish  a  free 
trade  in  corn.  But  an  important  question  remains;  whether 
the  corn  laws  ought  to  be  repealed  suddenly  or  by  degrees. 
Now  the  object  of  what  follows  is  to  show,  and  principally, 
by  correcting  an  error  into  which  English  political  econo- 
mists have  been  led  by  their  ignorance  of  America,  that  the 
repeal  of  the  corn-laws,  if  gradual,  would,  for  a  time,  be 
injurious  to  farmers  and  landlords,  without  being  very  use- 
ful to  any  class  of  labourers ;  but  if  sudden,  would  be 
beneficial  to  all  those  classes,  and  to  the  landlords  in  par- 
ticular. 

That  whatever  is  good  for  a  portion  of  society  must  be 
good  for  all,  is  a  general  principle  or  rule  ;  and  no  one  de- 
nies that  the  repeal  of  the  English  corn-laws  would  be  good 
for  some  classes  of  Englishmen.     On  general  grounds, 


132        FREE  TRADE  L\  CORN  AS  A  MEANS  OF 

therefore,  it  would  follow,  that  a  free  trade  in  corn  must  be 
beneficial  to  all  Englishmen.  The  fact  may  be  at  variance 
with  this  prima  facie  conclusion  ;  but  if  so,  it  forms  an  ex- 
ception to  the  general  rule  ;  and  those  who  maintain  the 
exception  are  bound  to  prove  that  it  exists.  Yet  what  has 
been  the  course  pursued  by  the  friends  and  enemies  of  the 
English  corn-laws  ?  Both  parties  have  taken  for  granted, 
and  have  built  all  their  arguments  on  the  bare  assumption, 
that,  in  proportion  as  a  free  trade  in  corn  must  be  bene- 
ficial to  owners  of  capital  and  labour,  it  would  be  injurious 
to  owners  of  land.  As  in  stating  that  high  wages  must 
necessarily  cause  low  profits,  that  the  prosperity  of  the 
master  depends  on  the  misery  of  the  workmen,  so  in  this 
case,  the  English  economists  have  taken  pains  to  set  differ- 
ent classes  by  the  ears.  The  fifteenth  edition  of  the  cele- 
brated Catechism  on  the  Corn  Laws,  which  contains  all  the 
common  arguments  for  and  against  free  trade  in  corn,  be- 
gins thus  :  "  For  whose  benefit  are  the  corn-laws  ? — Mani- 
festly, of  those  who  support  them,  the  landlords."  Those 
Jaws  are,  no  doubt,  intended  for  the  benefit  of  the  landlords  ; 
but  so  close  a  reasoner  as  Colonel  Thompson  will  admit, 
that  between  the  intention  and  the  fact  there  may  be  a  wide 
difference.  He  concludes  his  very  able  work,  as  he  begins 
it,  by  asserting  that  "the  landlords  are  kept  at  the  public 
expense."  It  may  be  so;  but  where  is  the  proof?  Take 
it  for  granted,  most  of  the  economists  and  landlords  would 
answer.  I  venture  to  say,  no  :  on  the  contrary,  I  notice 
the  bare  assertion,  which  you  would  substitute  for  proof,  in 
order  to  show  that  an  argument,  having  for  object  to  estab- 
lish that  a  free  trade  in  corn  would  be  good  for  the  owners 
of  land  as  well  as  for  the  owners  of  capital  and  labour,  is 
not,  upon  the  face  of  it,  irrational. 

The  way  in  which,  it  is  said,  free  trade  in  corn  would 
injure  the  landlords,  is  by  a  diminution  of  their  rents.  The 
first  step,  therefore,  in  the  inquiry,  is  to  ascertain  the  nature 
of  rent. 

This  point  is  already  settled  by  the  English  economists. 
When,  say  they,  the  increase  of  capital  and  population 
leads  to  the  cultivation  of  inferior  land,  people  are  willing 
to  pay  l'<>r  the  Use  of  superior  land.  This  payment,  which 
is  always  equal  to  the  difference  between  the  greater  and 
less  natural  productiveness  of  more  and  less  fertile  soils, 
constitutes  rent  Other  things,  they  add,  enter  into  rent, 
vulgarly  speaking,  swell  as  the  interest  which  the  tenant 
pays  for  the  use  of  the  landlord's  capital  fixed  in  buildings 


ENLARGING  THE  FIELD  OF  EMPLOYMENT,  &C.  133 

and  improvements  ;  but,  speaking  philosophically,  rent  is  a 
payment  for  leave  to  use  land  of  superior  natural  fertility, 
and  nothing  else  is  rent. 

According  to  this  statement,  we  should  have  to  deduct 
from  the  rental  of  England  : — 

1.  The  interest  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  capital,  fixed 
on  the  land,  and  the  property  of  those  who  own  the  land  : — 

2.  All  that  is  paid  for  the  superior  position  of  some  land; 
that  is,  the  greater  vicinity  to  manure  and  a  market. 

3.  All  that  is  paid,  over  the  payment  for  superior  natural 
fertility,  for  accommodation  land  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
towns  and  villages. 

4.  All  that  is  paid  for  land  used  for  purposes  of  plea- 
sure and  amusement,  such  as  gardens  and  pleasure  grounds, 
the  tenants  of  which  look,  not  to  profit,  but  to  gratification. 

5.  All  that  is  paid  for  the  use  of  land  as  building  ground. 
But  it  may  be,  that  all  these  payments  under  the  name  of 

rent,  amount  to  a  great  deal  more  than  what  is  paid  for  the 
superior  natural  fertility  of  land.  If  so,  rent,  philosophically 
speaking,  is  but  a  small  fraction  of  rent  in  the  vulgar  tongue. 

The  philosophical  theory  of  rent  is  made  to  rest,  by  all 
the  English  economists,  on  a  statement  directly  at  variance 
with  the  truth  ;  namely,  that  little  or  no  rent  is  ever  paid  in 
countries  where  the  most  fertile  land  may  be  obtained  for 
a  trifle  in  unlimited  quantities.  Before  contradicting  this 
statement,  it  will  be  well  to  show,  by  two  examples  out  of 
hundreds,  how  emphatically  it  is  made. 

"  So  long,"  says  Mr.  Mill,  "as  a  part  only  of  the  best 
land  is  required  for  cultivation,  all  that  is  uncultivated 
yields  nothing;  that  is,  nothing  which  has  any  value.  It 
naturally,  therefore,  remains  unappropriated,  and  any  man 
may  have  it  who  undertakes  to  render  it  productive.  Du- 
ring this  time  land,  speaking  correctly,  yields  no  rent."* 

"  On  the  first  settlement,"  says  Mr.  M'Culloch,  "  of  any 
country  abounding  in  large  tracts  of  unappropriated  land, 
no  rent  is  ever  paid ;  and  for  this  obvious  reason,  that  no 
person  will  pay  rent  for  what  may  be  obtained  in  unlimited 
quantities  for  nothing.  Thus  in  New  Holland,  where  there 
is  an  ample  supply  of  fertile  and  unappropriated  land,  rent 
will  not  be  heard  of  until  the  best  lands  are  cultivated."^ 
Again,  "  in  New  Holland,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  and  gen- 

*  Elements  of  Political  Economy,  sec.  Rent,  p.  31,  3d  edit. 
t  Professor  M'Gulloch's  Principles  of  Political  Economy,  chap.  Rent,  p. 
433,  2d  edit. 


134      TREE  TRADE  IN  CORN  AS  A  MEANS  OP 

erally  in  all  situations  in  which  no  rent  is  paid,  and  the 
best  of  the  good  lands  only  are  cultivated." 

Statements  to  the  like  effect  might  be  quoted  from  every 
treatise  on  rent  that  has  been  published  in  England. 

Now  the  fact  is,  that  in  the  town  of  Sydney  in  New  Hol- 
land, the  rent  of  land  is  nearly  as  high  as  in  London  ;  that 
a  very  high  rent  is  paid  for  land  in  Hobart's  Town,  Van 
Dieman's  Land,  in  Montreal,  in  the  new  town  of  York, 
Upper  Canada,  and  in  every  town  of  the  United  States,  not 
excepting  those  which  have  been  created  within  these  two 
years ;  that  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  all  such 
towns  a  considerable  rent  is  paid  for  garden  ground  and 
accommodation  land ;  and  that  in  all  new  settlements, 
whether  American  or  Australian,  where  there  are  but  few 
roads,  the  competition  for  land  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a 
market,  or  of  a  road  which  leads  to  a  market,  is  so  great, 
that  all  such  land,  unless  it  be  utterly  steril,  is  reckoned 
more  valuable  than  the  most  fertile  land  far  from  a  market, 
and  either  yields  rent  accordingly,  or  enables  its  owner  to 
take  a  greater  produce  to  market,  which  comes  to  the  same 
thing.  The  most  ample  proof  of  this  assertion  will  be  found 
in  every  published  account  of  New  South  Wales  and  Upper 
Canada,  in  the  published  histories  of  most  of  the  United 
States,  and  in  every  book  of  travels  in  America  which 
notices  the  value  of  land.  There  have  been  published,  in 
London  and  Edinburgh,  certainly,  not  less  than  three  hun- 
dred volumes,  each  of  which  contains  evidence  of  the 
greatly  superior  value  of  some  land  in  countries,  where  the 
most  fertile  land  may  be  obtained  in  unlimited  quantities 
for  next  to  nothing;  and  showing  too,  that  in  all  such 
cases  the  value  of  land  depends,  hardly  at  all  on  superior 
natural  fertility,  but  almost  entirely  on  greater  vicinity  to 
labour  for  raising  produce,  and  to  a  market  for  disposing  of 
it.  There  are  so  many  witnesses  to  this  fact,  whose  evi- 
dence is  so  much  alike,  thai  I  should  take  from  the  force  of 
their  united  testimony  by  quoting  a  part  of  it.*  All  good 
private  libraries  in  England  abound  in  such  evidence,  as  Mr. 
Mill  and  .\!  r.  M'(  iulloch  would acknov  ledge  after  one  hour's 
search  in  honks  relating  to  "  new  countries."  If  nature  had 
provided  markets  in  waste  countries,  or  if  mankind  could 
fly,  easily  carrying  greal  weights  through  the  air,  then,  in- 

■  For  another  purpose,  there  is  collected  in  the  Appendix,  No.  2,  a  num- 
ber of  facte,  wliicli  eatabliah  thai  rent,  and  n  high  rent  too,  is  paid  in  new 
countries,  whew  unlimited  auantitiei  of  fertile  In  ml  may  he  obtained  for  a 
trifle. 


ENLARGING    THE    FIELD    OF    EMPLOYMENT,  &C  135 

deed,  the  value  of  land  used  in  producing  food  for  market 
would  depend  on  superior  natural  fertility,  and  where  un- 
limited quantities  of  the  most  fertile  land  might  be  obtained 
for  nothing,  without  flying  too  far,  no  rent  would  be  paid 
for  the  use  of  land  in  producing  food  for  market.  Even  in 
that  case,  however,  rent  would  be  paid  for  the  use  of  land 
in  various  other  ways,  as  for  gardens  and  buildings.  As  it 
is,  land  speculators  in  Australia,  Canada,  and  America, 
calculate  that,  because,  in  new  settlements,  the  difference 
between  different  portions  of  land  in  respect  to  advantages 
of  position  must  necessarily  be  very  great,  therefore,  in  a 
new  settlement,  the  difference  of  value  between  different 
portions  of  land  must  necessarily  be  very  great.  Thus  it  fre- 
quently happens,  that  when  one  of  the  westerns  tates  of  Ame- 
rica, or  some  land-jobbing  company,  fixes  on  a  spot  in  the 
wilderness  as  fit  for  a  town,  marks  out  the  future  streets  by 
notches  on  the  trees,  and  fixes  a  day  for  selling  the  district 
in  lots  by  auction,  hundreds  of  people  congregate,  build 
houses  upon  wheels,  and  make  ready  for  the  sale  by  esti- 
mating the  future  different  values  of  the  different  lots.  Cap- 
tain Basil  Hall  describes  admirably  one  case  of  this  sort,  in 
which  twelve  hundred  people  had  assembled  in  the  forest, 
and  built  seventy  moveable  houses,  weeks  before  the  day 
of  sale.  The  different  lots  of  land  sold  at  such  auctions, 
are,  generally,  of  pretty  equal  natural  fertility,  being  equally 
covered  by  dense  forests  of  the  same  kind  of  trees  ;  yet 
while  still  covered  by  the  forest,  they  sell  for  very  different 
prices.  And  this  is  the  case,  not  only  with  respect  to  town 
lots,  but  also  as  to  lots  which  it  is  foreseen  will  be,  though 
not  in  the  future  town,  more  or  less  distant  from  the  future 
market.  In  faet,  the  greatest  trade  in  America,  that  of  land, 
jobbing,  by  which  more  fortunes  have  been  made  than  by 
any  other:  a  trade  in  which  three  out  of  four  Americans 
engage  at  some  period  of  their  lives,  either  singly  or  in 
companies;  this  trade,  by  which  even  a  London  company 
has  lately  made  immense  profits  in  Canada,  which  last  year 
produced  to  the  American  government,  the  greatest  of  land- 
jobbers,  nearly  700,000/. ;  this  trade  of  land-jobbing,  of 
which  it  would  seem  that  the  English  economists  have 
never  heard,  depends  principally  upon  the  superior  value 
which,  in  countries  where  unlimited  quantities  of  the 
most  fertile  land  may  be  obtained  for  a  trifle,  land  derives 
from  superior  position.  The  English  theory  of  rent,  there- 
fore, whether  correct  or  not,  is  made  to  rest  upon  a  great 
misstatement  of  fact. 


13G       FKEE  TKADE  Ed  CORN  AS  A  MEANS  OF 

Now  the  American  theory  of  rent  is  this.  Rent  consists 
of  a  yearly  payment  for  the  use  of  land.  But  much  land, 
which  might  be  turned  to  all  the  purposes  of  man,  yields 
no  rent.  Land,  for  instance,  on  the  south  coast  of  New 
Holland,*  or  far  west  of  the  Mississippi,  which  is  still  un- 
inhabited, yields  no  rent;  and  never  will  yield  a  rent  until 
there  shall  be  people  desirous  to  use  it.  Indeed,  no  one 
would  pay  for  the  use  of  land,  which  no  other  person  was 
desirous  to  use.  Rent,  therefore,  arises  from  competition 
for  the  use  of  land. 

Competition  for  the  use  of  land  is  of  various  kinds  and 
of  various  degrees. 

First,  touching  the  kinds  of  competition  ;  these  are  va- 
rious, because  land  is  used  for  various  purposes.  In  Eng- 
land land  is  used  for  growing  corn,  for  breeding  and  fatten- 
ing cattle,  for  producing  milk,  kitchen  vegetables,  and  fruit, 
for  the  growth  of  timber  and  other  raw  materials  of  several 
manufactures,  for  the  sites  of  warehouses,  factories,  houses 
in  towns,  villas,  and  mansions,  for  pleasure-grounds,  parks, 
and  game-preserves,  besides  an  infinity  of  other  purposes. 

The  degrees  of  competition  vary  with  the  various  kinds  of 
competition.  The  highest  degree  of  competition  occurs 
near  the  Exchanges  of  such  towns  as  London,  Liverpool 
and  New- York.  In  those  spots  land  is  measured,  not  by 
the  acre, but  by  the  yard  and  foot  ;  and  yields,  oris  worth, 
a  rent  which  may  be  called  enormous,  compared  with  the 
highest  rent  ever  paid  for  the  use  of  land  in  producing  food. 
No  competition  whatever  occurs  in  such  spots  as  Dartmoor, 
for  example,  or  the  tops  of  mountains  in  Wales,  where 
soil  and  climate  are  equally  unlit  for  residence,  for  produc- 
ing food,  and  for  every  other  human  purpose. 

Such  spots  yield  no  rent ;  and  any  oik.1  might  appropriate 
them,  if  the  actual  proprietors  were  not  induced  to  main- 
tain their  titles  by  a  vague  hope  of  mineral  discoveries,  or 
for  the  vain  pleasure  of  calling  their  own,  though  without 
tlii-  least  advantage,  bo  much  more  <»l  the  earth's  surface. 

The  lowest  de'_rP'<'  of  c petition  occurs  on  these  spots, 

which  are  so  distant  from  towns  and  roads  as  to  be  unfit 
for  any  other  purpose  than  the  production  of  food,  and  of 
which  the  produce,  owing  to  a  bad  soil  or  climate,  or  both, 

'  Though,  ns  in  the  mso  of  the  iale  described  by  <  Inptain  Hall,  a  London 
company  lately  offered  to  the  Brit iah  govern menl  126,000/.  for  .'jOO.OOO  acres 
of  land  on  Ll  tat.     The  oner  was  made,  with  a  view  to  profit  by 

(he  nalc,  al  very  enhanced  prices,  "i  land  in  the  neighbourhood  of  n  future 
market  ;  wh}  the  offer  win  refused,  may  be  seen  in  the  Appendix,  iVo.  3. 


ENLARGING    THE    FIELD    OF    EMPLOYMENT,    &C.       137 

as  well  as  to  distance  from  markets  and  manure,  is  little 
more  than  sufficient  to  cover  the  expense  of  cultivation. 
This  lowest  degree  of  competition  may  produce  a  rent  of 
some  pence  per  acre  ;  while  the  highest  degree  of  compe- 
tition yields  a  rent  of  some  thousand  pounds  per  acre. 
Between  these  two  extremes,  various  amounts  of  rent  are 
produced  by  various  degrees  of  competition. 

This  view  of  the  subject  will  be  made  more  clear  by 
reference  to  some  facts. 

1.  Part  of  Dengy  Hundred  in  Essex  consists  of  land  re- 
claimed from  the  sea,  and  uniformly  of  the  greatest  natural 
fertility  ;  not  merely  producing  large  crops,  but,  since  the 
soil  is  light  as  well  as  rich,  producing  them  with  a  small 
outlay  of  capital.  Farther,  between  this  land  and  the 
metropolis  there  is  easy  water  communication ;  so  that 
manure  is  easily  obtained  and  the  produce  is  easily  con- 
veyed to  the  best  market.  Yet,  for  this  land,  the  average 
rent  paid,  deducting  tithes,  is  not  more  than  twenty-five 
shillings  per  acre  ;  while  for  land  not  more  fertile,  in  some 
parts  of  Warwickshire,  used  only  for  producing  food,  and 
not  nearer  than  the  Essex  farms  to  manure  and  a  market,  a 
rent  of  from  two  to  three  pounds  per  acre  is  obtained.  That 
the  produce  of  the  Essex  land  is  greater  even  than  that  of 
the  land  in  Warwickshire,  is  shown  by  the  higher  amount 
paid  for  composition  of  tithes  in  the  former  case.  But 
how  are  we  to  explain  the  difference  of  rent  ?  Of  mere 
theorists  the  most  profound  would  be  at  a  loss  to  account 
for  the  lower  value  of  the  land  in  Essex  :  it  is  explained  by 
the  unhealthiness  of  the  Essex  marshes,  which  indisposes 
farmers  to  settle  there  ;  so  that  when  the  lease  of  a  farm 
expires,  either  no  one  bids  against  the  old  tenant,  or  no  one 
bids  more  than  the  old  rent.  Many  considerable  fortunes, 
accordingly,  have  been  made  by  farmers  in  that  part  of 
Essex,  who  retained  as  profit  much  of  what  they  or  others 
would  have  paid  for  rent,  if  the  competition  for  farms  had 
been  as  great  in  the  thinly- peopled  Essex  marshes  as  it  is  in 
the  healthy  and  populous  county  of  Warwick.  This  circum- 
stance, though  not  bearing  on  any  of  the  kinds  of  competi- 
tion mentioned  above,  is  remarkably  illustrative  of  the 
doctrine,  that  different  kinds  and  degrees  of  competition 
arise  from  various  causes. 

2.  All  the  land  for  some  miles  south,  east,  and  west  of 
Dunkirk  (Downchurch)  in  France,  consists  naturally  of 
downs  of  loose  sand,  blown  up  from  a  gaining  sea-shore  on 
to  a  deep  subsoil  of  sand,  without  water,  and  as  steril  as 

18 


138       FREE  TRADE  IN  CORN  AS  A  MEANS  OP 

the  most  naked  rock.  Yet  in  this  district  the  rent  of  land 
is  considerably  higher  than  in  the  very  fertile  district  which, 
on  the  opposite  coast  of  England,  divides  the  Isle  of  Thanet 
from  the  rest  of  Kent.  Why  ?  If  rent  be  paid  because,  as 
Mr.  Mill  says,  in  the  beginning  of  his  chapter  on  rent, 
"  land  is  of  different  degrees  of  fertility,"  we  should  go  on 
to  say,  because  the  English  land  is  naturally  steril,  while 
the  French  land  is  naturally  rich.  The  fact,  however,  is 
this ;  at  least  this  is  the  way  in  which  the  people  about 
Dunkirk  account  for  the  high  rents  yielded  by  their  naturally 
steril  land.  Time  was  when  the  district  was  uninhabited, 
and  then,  of  course,  no  rent  was  paid.  But  a  church  having 
been  built  on  the  barren  downs,  and  its  patron  saint,  Eloi, 
being  in  great  repute,  pilgrims  flocked  thither  from  all  parts 
of  France  and  the  Low  Countries.  By  this  means  a  town 
was  established.  In  time,  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  con- 
structed a  port  ;  roads  were  next  made  from  the  port 
across  the  downs  to  the  populous  highlands  which  had  once 
formed  the  sea-shore,  and  afterward  canals  in  various 
directions  ;  the  flatness  and  softness  of  the  sandy  district 
offering  great  facilities  lor  canal-cutting.  In  the  end,  the 
means  of  communication  became  more  abundant  in  this 
district  than  in  any  other  part  of  France,  as  they  are  still : 
and  the  result  was,  that  the  population  of  the  district  be- 
came very  great,  towns  and  villages  being  built  at  a  short 
distance  from  each  other  ;  that  by  means  of  canals,  clay 
and  other  manures  were  easily  obtained,  and  being  applied 
to  the  sand,  rendered  it  more  productive  than  the  ancient 
highlands  of  chalk ;  while  those  canals,  again,  afforded 
great  facilities  for  taking  produce  to  market.  In  this  way, 
the  cost  of  production  in  the  market  becoming  less  and  less 
by  means  of  art,  the  naturally  steril  downs  about  Dunkirk, 
which  have  never  been  used  except  for  producing  food, 
became  more  valuable,  subject  to  a  higher  degree  of  com- 
petition, than  the  rid)  marsh  lands  between  Sandwich  and 
Reculver,  on  which  the  population  is  scanty,  and  of  which 
every  acre,  in  comparison  with  any  part  of  the  French  Low 
Countries,  is  distant  from  market. 

3.  The  garden  grounds  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames,  not 
far  from  London,  are  worth  four  or  five,  and  in  some  cases 
ten  times  as  much  as  alluvial  land  of  equal  natural  fertility, 
which  is  either  more  distant  from  manure  and  a  market,  or 
which,  though  nearer  to  manure  and  a  market,  is  not  re- 
quired to  supply  a  demand  for  produce  of  a  perishable 
nature.     Thousands  of  like  cases  might  be  cited. 


ENLARGING    THE    FIELD    OF    EMPLOYMENT,  &C.        139 

4.  Of  late  years,  in  England,  many  cases  have  occurred 
in  which  the  construction  of  a  bridge  between  a  town  and 
mere  farm  land  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  having  ena- 
bled the  inhabitants  of  the  town  to  use  such  farm  land  for 
gardens,  for  the  keep  of  cows,  for  turning  out  horses,  and 
other  purposes  of  utility  or  pleasure,  has  caused  the  rent  of 
such  land  to  rise,  with  a  corresponding  fall  in  the  rent  of 
accommodation  land  on  the  town  side  of  the  river.  In 
these  cases  a  bridge,  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  natural 
fertility,  causes  a  higher  rent  in  one  place,  and  a  lower  rent 
in  another,  by  means  of  higher  and  lower  degree  of  com- 
petition for  the  use  of  land. 

5.  Every  one  at  all  acquainted  with  rural  affairs  in  Eng- 
land or  Scotland  must  know  of  cases  in  which  the  making 
of  a  canal  or  a  road  has  raised  the  rent  of  land  throughout 
the  borders  of  the  new  line  of  communication.  In  such 
cases,  what  the  tenant  saves  by  a  decrease  in  the  cost  of 
manure,  and  of  taking  produce  to  market,  falls  to  the  land- 
lord in  the  shape  of  rent ;  in  such  cases,  a  higher  rent  may 
be  paid  with  the  same  profit  as  before,  and  is  paid  because 
a  higher  degree  of  competition  has  taken  place. 

6.  But  how  much  more  striking  is  the  increase  of  rent  on 
and  around  some  parts  of  the  borders  of  new  lines  of  com- 
munication, which  are  chosen  for  the  sites  of  towns  or 
villages.  In  these  cases  ground  rents,  garden  rents,  and 
accommodation  rents,  are  now  paid  for  land  which  before 
yielded  rent  for  only  the  second  degree,  perhaps,  of  natural 
fertility  ;  such  higher  rents  being  paid  because  some  of  the 
highest  degrees  of  competition  have  been  created  where 
only  the  lowest  degree  existed  before.  The  land  around 
every  English  town  which  has  much  increased  during  the 
last  thirty  years  furnishes  to  numbers  an  example  of  this 
kind  with  which  they  must  be  familiar  ;  a  case  in  which, 
through  the  increase  of  wealth  and  population,  land  which 
formerly  yielded  only  garden  and  accommodation  rent  now 
yields  building  rent ;  land,  which  formerly  yielded  only  a 
farming  rent,  now  yields  garden  and  accommodation  rent ; 
and  land,  still  used  for  farming,  is  more  productive  with 
the  same  cost,  or  as  productive  with  less  cost,  and  is  there- 
fore worth  a  higher  rent,  in  consequence  of  more  manure 
and  a  greater  demand  for  farm  produce  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  such  mere  farming  land. 

7.  On  that  part  of  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean  formerly 
subject  to  the  Genoese  republic,  very  little  corn  and  no 
meat  was  ever  produced :  on  the  other  side  of  the  Appen- 


140       FREE  TRADE  IN  CORN  AS  A  MEANS  OF 

nines,  in  Piedmont,  there  are  districts  which  produce  scarce 
any  thing  but  corn  and  cattle  ;  and  part  of  the  produce  of 
those  districts  is  consumed  in  the  Genoese  territory.  Yet 
the  rent  of  land,  on  the  mountainous  coast  of  the  Gulf  of 
Genoa  was,  a  few  years  back,  and  probably  still  is,  consid- 
erably higher  than  in  those  very  fertile  districts  of  Pied- 
mont, from  which  the  Genoese  derive  a  part  of  their  food. 
This  difference  of  rent  is  easily  explained.  In  Piedmont, 
there  was  no  competition  for  the  use  of  land,  except  in 
producing  corn  and  meat.  The  soil  of  Genoa  being  un- 
suited  to  the  production  of  corn  and  meat,  the  Genoese 
turned  their  industry  into  the  channels  of  manufactures 
and  commerce,  whereby  they  were  enabled  to  obtain  corn 
and  meat  from  foreign  soils.  Obtaining  corn  and  meat 
with  an  outlay  of  capital  much  less  than  would  have  been 
required  to  raise  the  same  produce  on  their  own  territory, 
they  created,  by  the  increase  of  wealth  and  population,  a 
demand  for  productions,  which  were  easily  raised  on  their 
own  soil,  such  as  garden  vegetables,  fruit,  olive  oil,  silk,  and 
wine.  Thus  land  which,  if  it  had  been  used  for  growing 
corn  or  feeding  cattle,  would  at  best  have  returned  a  pro- 
duce not  more  than  sufficient  to  replace  capital  with  profit, 
and  for  which  therefore  no  rent  could  have  been  paid,  now 
yielded  a  rent  equal  to  the  difference  between  the  value  of 
the  produce  and  the  cost  of  production.  In  this  case, 
land  which  was  steril  for  one  purpose,  became  fertile  for 
another.  Then,  as  by  means  of  importing  corn  and  meat, 
the  wealth  and  population  of  the  state  increased,  roads  were 
carried  into  narrow  valleys  which  before  had  been  shut 
against  competition,  and  thus  the  land  of  those  valleys, 
which  before  had  been  worth  nothing,  came  to  be  valuable, 
and  to  yield  rent  accordingly.  Lastly,  with  the  further  in- 
crease of  wealth  and  population,  owing  entirely  to  the  con- 
tinued cheapness  of  corn  and  meat,  there  occurred  an  ex- 
tensive demand   for  the   use  of  land  it)   many  ways  besides 

cultivation.  Tin-  inhabitants  of  Genoa  the  Magnificent 
(magnificent,  because  withoul  corn-laws)  required,  besides 
houses,  warehouses,  and  other  buildings  within  the  city  walls, 
country  villas,  pleasure  gardens,  and  ornamented  grounds. 
For  these,  the  Btaff  of  life  being  cheap,  they  could  well 
afford  to  pay  without  regard  to  profit.  Thus  much  land 
acquired  .1  value  far  exceeding  the  difference  between  the 
value  and  thecosl  of  things  raised  for  sale.  What  had  oc- 
curred near  the  city  of  Genoa,  to  >k  place  more  or  less  at 
other  places  on  the  coast,  where  there  arose  such  towns  as 


ENLARGING    THE    FIELD    OF    EMPLOYMENT,  &C.         141 

Spezia,  Noli,  Voltri,  and  Savona,  and  where  some  land, 
steril  for  producing  corn  or  meat,  came  to  yield  a  rent 
for  the  use  of  it  in  producing  other  things  :  while  some  land, 
neither  more  nor  less  fertile  for  any  purpose  of  cultivation, 
yielded  a  rent  much  higher  than  was  ever  paid  for  the  most 
fertile  land  used  in  producing  commodities  for  market. 
The  original  cause  of  all,  or  nearly  all  the  rent  paid  in  the 
Genoese  territory,  was  the  importation  of  corn  and  meat, 
which  produced  all  the  higher  degrees  of  competition  for 
the  use  of  land  on  spots  where,  unless  the  staff  of  life  had 
been  imported  from  foreign  soils,  the  lowest  degree  of  com- 
petition could  hardly  have  existed.  How  the  Genoese 
would  stare  if  Mr.  Mill,  explaining  to  them  the  cause  of 
high  rent  in  their  steril  country,  were  to  begin  with  the 
first  sentence  of  his  chapter  on  rent :  "  land  is  of  different 
degrees  of  fertility  !" 

From  considering  the  above  facts,  it  appears  that  rent  is 
produced  by  an  infinite  variety  of  causes:  each  cause, 
however,  operating  by  way  of  competition  for  the  use  of 
land  ;  and  that  some  kinds  of  competition  are  far  more 
powerful,  produce  a  much  higher  rent  than  others.  Let 
us  now  see  what,  in  England,  are  the  main  circumstances 
that  regulate  the  degrees  of  competition  for  the  use  of  land. 

First.  Superior  natural  fertility. 

Secondly.  Superior  productiveness  arising  from  im- 
provements, such  as  draining,  fencing,  building,  &c. 

Thirdly.  Superior  vicinity  to  manure,  which  is  the  same 
as  superior  natural  fertility. 

Fourthly.  Superior  vicinity  to  markets,  which  reduces, 
by  so  much,  the  cost  of  taking  produce  to  market. 

Fifthly.  A  demand  for  milk,  fruit,  and  kitchen  vegetables, 
which  will  not  bear  long  carriage. 

Sixthly.  A  demand  for  pleasure  gardens,  pleasure 
grounds,  and  ground  for  all  the  purposes  of  building. 

Superior  natural  fertility  alone  produces  some  compe- 
tition: add  improvements,  which  are  equal  to  greater  natu- 
ral fertility,  but  which  must  be  called  fixed  capital,  and  a 
higher  degree  of  competition  takes  place  ;  superadd  vici- 
nity to  manure  and  to  markets,  when  a  still  higher  degree  of 
competition  occurs,  with  a  still  higher  rent :  produce  a  de- 
mand for  accommodation  land,  when  competition  takes 
place  in  the  highest  degree  but  one  :  produce  a  demand  for 
pleasure  gardens,  pleasure  grounds,  and  building  ground, 
when  the  result  is  the  highest  degree  of  competition  and  the 
highest  rent.     How,  in  England,  a  free  trade  in  corn  would 


142       FREE  TRADE  IN  CORN  AS  A  MEANS  OF 

affect  these  several  degrees  of  competition  for  the  use  of 
land,  and  the  aggregate  rental  of  the  country,  is  the  practi- 
cal question  before  us. 

Let  us  suppose  that  if  the  English  were  free  to  buy  corn 
in  the  cheapest  markets  they  could  anywhere  find,  there 
would  no  longer  be  any  demand  at  all  for  English  corn, 
wheat,  barley,  and  oats.  In  this  case,  competition  for  the 
use  of  land  in  growing  corn  would  cease  altogether. 

If  this  competition  should  cease  altogether,  bread  not 
becoming  any  cheaper,  the  general  competition  for  the  use 
of  land  in  producing  food  would  be  greatly  reduced.  But 
since  the  object  of  free  trade  in  corn  is  to  obtain  cheap 
bread,  we  have  a  right  to  presume  that,  the  corn-laws  re- 
pealed, bread  would  become  much  cheaper.  Let  us  sup- 
pose, taking  the  extreme  case  supposed  by  the  landlords, 
when  they  say  that  a  free  trade  in  corn  would  be  ruinous 
to  them,  that  bread  should  be  obtained  at  half  its  present 
price.  In  that  case,  the  demand  for  all  other  kinds  of  food 
would  increase  with  the  cheapness  of  bread.  But,  even  if 
the  demand  for  other  kinds  of  food  were  doubled,  it  does 
not  follow,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  the  new  demand  for 
the  produce  of  land  would  have  the  same  effect  on  compe- 
tition as  the  demand  which  had  ceased.  Whether  or  not 
this  would  be  the  case,  depends  upon  two  proportions ; 
first,  the  actual  proportion  between  corn  land  and  land  used 
for  growing  other  kinds  of  food ;  secondly,  the  proportion 
which  the  demand  for  food  not  corn  would  bear  to  the  pres- 
ent demand  for  food  not  corn,  if  the  price  of  bread  were 
reduced  by  half.  These  are  points  which  might  perhaps  be 
ascertained  by  a  diligent  government.  Supposing  that  the 
new  demand  for  food  not  corn,  would  be  equal  in  effect  to 
the  present  demand  for  corn  and  for  food  not  corn,  in  that 
case  the  corn-laws  might  be  repealed  without  even  a  mo- 
mentary decrease  of  demand  for  the  use  of  land  in  pro- 
ducing food ;  and,  at  all  events,  after  a  while,  the  increase 
of  people  and  wealth,  owing  to  the  cheapness  of  the  staff 
of  life,  would  raise  the  demand  for  food  not  corn  up  to  the 
present  demand  for  all  kinds  of  food. 

How  would  this,  cither  presently,  or  before  long,  affect 
the  various  degrees  of  competition? 

l.  Superior  natural  fertility  would  be  as  valuable  as 

ever.     Might  it  not    become    more   valuable?    or  rather, 

might  not  much  land,  which  has  now  but  the  fourth  or  third 

eeoffertilit)  for  the  growth  of  corn,  become  of  the  second 

or  first  degree  for  the  growth  of  other  kinds  of  food  ?     As 


ENLARGING    THE    FIELD    OP    EMPLOYMENT,    &C.         413 

the  Genoese  soil  is  not  fit  for  the  growth  of  corn  or  meat, 
but  is  fit  for  the  growth  of  wine,  silk,  and  oil,  so  the  soil,  or 
rather  climate  of  England  is  more  fit  for  the  growth  of 
food  not  corn,  than  for  the  growth  of  corn.  Thus  cheap- 
ness of  bread  extending  to  some  land,  which  is  inferior  for 
its  present  purpose,  a  superior  quality  for  new  purposes, 
would  rather  augment  than  decrease  the  effect  of  the  low- 
est degree  of  competition.  Towards  the  increase  of  this 
effect,  also,  the  growth  of  raw  materials  for  manufactures, 
such  as  timber  and  wool,  instead  of  the  growth  of  corn,  a 
change  which  could  not  but  ensue  in  many  cases,  if  the 
English  were  to  buy  their  corn  with  manufactures,  would 
operate  very  considerably. 

2.  Capital  fixed  upon  land,  as  w^ell  as,  we  may  add  here, 
the  unfixed  capital  of  the  farmers,  would  be  as  valuable  as 
ever.  Fifty  years  ago  this  would  not  have  been  the  case  ; 
because  at  that  time  the  art  of  producing  animal  food  by 
tillage  had  made  little  progress  in  England  ;  but  at  this 
time,  every  English  farmer  knows  how  to  raise  meat  with 
the  plough.  If  a  demand  for  animal  food,  milk,  butter, 
cheese,  and  meat,  should  take  the  place  of  a  demand  for 
home-grown  corn,  some  farmers,  no  doubt,  would  convert 
a  portion  of  their  corn  land  into  meadow  ;  but  considering 
the  great  skill  of  the  English  in  growing  artificial  food  for 
cattle,  and  how  the  power  of  growing  such  food  would  be 
increased  by  the  greater  number  of  cattle  kept,  that  is,  the 
greater  quantity  of  manure,  a  large  proportion  of  the  present 
corn  lands  would,  it  seems  inevitable,  be  used  for  the 
growth  of  turnips,  potatoes,  beetroot,  clover,  tares,  lucern, 
and  such  like  food  for  cattle,  which  can  be  raised  only  by 
the  same  sort  of  capital  as  is  used  in  raising  corn,  and 
which,  on  the  score  of  climate,  would  be  raised  with  less 
expense  than  corn. 

These  two  are  the  only  kinds  of  competition  for  the  use 
of  land  that  would  be  affected  by  cheapness  of  bread,  so 
long  as  wealth  and  population  had  not  increased.  But 
inevitably,  if  bread  were  cheap,  wealth  and  population 
would  very  rapidly  increase.  Whatever  the  effect  of 
cheapness  of  bread  on  these  two  kinds  of  competition  with- 
out an  increase  of  wealth  or  population,  it  would  manifestly 
be  much  greater  after  such  increase. 

But  now  we  have  to  consider  the  influence  of  a  great 
increase  of  wealth  and  population  on  the  four  higher  de- 
grees of  competition. 

Let  us  suppose  the  population  and  wealth  of  the  country 


144       FREE  TRADE  IN  CORN  AS  A  MEANS  OF 

to  be  doubled  ;  a  supposition  by  no  means  extravagant, 
after  supposing  that  the  staff  of  life  had  been  very  cheap 
during  one  generation.  In  this  case,  the  extent  of  roads, 
though  not  doubled,  would  be  greatly  increased.  On  many 
of  the  new  lines  of  roads,  as  well  as  on  those  which  exist 
already,  market  towns  would  be  built  in  spots  where,  at 
present,  neither  manure  can  be  obtained  nor  produce  sold. 
Jn  the  next  place,  a  large  proportion  of  the  people  called 
into  existence  by  cheapness  of  bread,  would  reside  in 
towns  ;  so  that,  with  double  the  actual  population,  the 
town  population  would  be  much  more  than  doubled.  In 
this  way,  land,  which  is  now  of  second  or  third  rate  quality 
in  respect  to  position,  to  manure,  and  a  market,  would 
become  first  rate  and  second  rate.  Thus,  also,  the  extent 
of  land  required  for  producing  perishable  food,  such  as 
milk,  fruit,  and  kitchen  vegetables,  would  be  more  than 
twice  as  much  as  it  is  now.  And,  finally,  the  demand  for 
pleasure  gardens,  pleasure  grounds,  and  for  building  ground, 
would  be  more  than  doubled  with  the  supposed  increase 
of  wealth  and  population;  Whatever  the  increase  of  wealth 
and  population  year  by  year,  all  the  higher  degrees  of  com- 
petition for  land  would  be  much  more  rapidly  extended. 

Thus,  while  a  free  trade  in  corn  might  extend  to  some 
land,  which  is  of  inferior  quality  for  the  growth  of  corn,  a 
superior  quality  for  the  growth  of  other  things,  not  lessen- 
ing the  value  of  any  capital  fixed  upon  land,  but  rather  in- 
creasing the  power  of  such  capital  by  spreading  a  mode  of 
cultivation  more  suited  to  the  soil  and  climate  of  England ; 
while  competition  for  superior  natural  fertility,  and  the  use 
of  fixed  capital,  might  be  rather  increased  than  diminished, 
the  influence  of  all  the  higher  degrees  of  competition  would, 
it  seems  quite  plain,  be  extended  incalculably.  The  aggre- 
gate rental  of  the  country  must  necessarily  increase  to  the 
same  extent.  All  land-owners,  indeed,  would  not  derive 
equal  benefit,  in  proportion  to  their  present  rentals,  from 
such  an  extension  of  the  higher  degrees  of  competition. 
The  greatest  increase  of  wealth  and  population  would  not 
Cause  any  increase  of  competition  lor  land  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  London  exchange,  ^  here  already  the  verynighesl 
degree  of  Competition  exists,  and  the  very  highest  rent  is  ob- 
tained ;  nor,  probably,  would  the  value  of  any  land  now  used 
as  building  ground  be  much  increased  by  the  greatesl  increase 
ot  wealth  and  population.  The  eflfecl  of  greater  wealth  and 
population  would  be  to  extend  to  land,  now  subject  to  one 
of  the  lower  degrees,  a  higher  degree  of  competition;  but 


ENLARGING    THE    FIELD    OF    EMPLOYMENT,    &C.         145 

already  so  large  a  portion  of  ihe  surface  of  England  is  appli- 
cable to  those  purposes  which  create  the  higher  degrees  of 
competition,  that  but  few  landlords  could  miss  reaping 
some  share  of  the  great  increase  of  aggregate  rental  which, 
if  this  view  of  the  subject  be  correct,  must  result  from  a  free 
trade  in  corn.  If  so,  bread  cannot,  one  should  think,  be 
made  too  cheap,  nor  be  made  cheap  too  soon  for  the  land- 
lords. 

But  here  a  consideration  arises,  which  is  of  great  im- 
portance to  the  landlords.  Two  ways  of  making  bread 
cheap  are  proposed ;  that  of  suddenly  repealing  all  the 
laws  which  restrict  the  importation  of  corn  ;  secondly,  that 
of  substituting  for  the  present  truly  whimsical  laws  a  fixed 
duty  on  imported  corn,  and  providing  that  the  duty  shall 
decrease  year  by  year  until  it  cease  altogether.  The 
ground  of  this  latter  suggestion  is  tenderness  for  the  land- 
lords, farmers,  and  farm  labourers.  Give  them  time,  say 
some  of  the  advocates  of  cheap  bread  ;  give  the  agricultu- 
rists time,  so  that  the  transition  from  corn-growing  to  other 
kinds  of  production  being  gradual,  not  even  a  passing  injury 
may  be  suffered  by  any  of  them.  Now  this  gradual  method 
of  proceeding  appears  to  me  to  be  the  only  way  in  which 
the  agriculturists  may  be  injured  by  a  repeal  of"  the  corn- 
laws  ;  and  the  only  way,  too,  in  which  the  other  classes 
could  fail, for  a  time  at  least,  to  reap  much  advantage  from 
cheapness  of  bread. 

First,  as  to  the  landlords.  Let  us  suppose  that  twenty 
years  were  allowed  for  the  reduction  of  bread  to  half  its 
present  price,  and  that  a  twentieth  part  of  the  whole  reduc- 
tion should  take  place  in  each  of  the  twenty  years.  In  that 
case,  each  year  would  bring  a  fall  in  the  price  of  bread 
/equal  to  one-fortieth  of  the  present  price.  With  so  slow  a 
decrease  in  the  price  of  bread,  little  or  no  improvement 
could  take  place  in  the  condition  of  the  bulk  of  the  people, 
because  the  number  of  labourers  would  increase  as  fast  as 
bread  became  cheaper ;  and  thus,  though  every  year  there 
would  be  more  labourers  to  eat  bread,  nay,  even  though  all 
the  labouring  class  should  eat  more  bread,  the  class  of 
labourers  generally,  who  form  the  bulk  of  the  people,  would 
not  be  able  to  purchase  more  animal  food.  The  price  of 
bread  being  reduced  by  so  slow  a  process  as  to  give  time 
for  a  corresponding  increase  of  people,  money  wages  would 
fall  with  the  price  of  bread,  and  the  quality  of  labourers' 
food  would  not  be  raised.  In  this  case,  the  increase  of  de- 
mand for  animal  food  would  not  be  more  rapid  than  the 

19 


146       FREE  TRADE  IN  CORN  AS  A  MEANS  OF 

increase  of  population  generally.  But  if,  on  the  contraryy 
bread  were  suddenly  reduced  to  half  its  present  price, 
then,  as  the  labouring  population  could  not  increase  sud- 
denly, the  bulk  of  the  people  must  be  able  to  purchase  a 
great  deal  more  than  twice  as  much  animal  food  as  they 
purchase  now.  At  present,  they  buy  very  little  animal 
food.  By  giving  to  the  bulk  of  the  people  the  power  to 
buy  animal  food,  the  present  demand  for  animal  food  might 
be  immediately  doubled,  trebled,  or  even  quadrupled  ;  and 
thus  the  transition  from  corn-growing  to  the  production  of 
other  kinds  of  food  might  not  have  to  wait  upon  the  increase 
of  population.  If  the  slow  process  were  adopted,  a  con- 
siderable decrease  of  the  demand  for  home-grown  corn 
might  take  place,  before  population  had  increased  enough  to 
increase  the  demand  for  animal  food  :  whereas,  if  the  sud- 
den process  of  repeal  were  adopted,  the  power  of  the  whole 
labouring  class  to  buy  animal  food  being  thus  suddenly  and 
greatly  increased,  then  the  increase  of  demand  for  animal 
food  would  more  or  less  correspond  with  the  decrease  of 
demand  for  home-grown  corn.  In  this  way,  the  transition 
from  one  kind  to  another  kind  of  production  might  take 
place  without  even  passing  loss  to  the  owners  of  land.  If, 
then,  bread  is  to  be  made  cheap,  the  cheaper  the  better  and 
the  sooner  the  better  for  the  landlords. 

Secondly,  as  to  the  farmers.  These,  like  the  landlords, 
might  suffer  from  a  slow  process  of  repeal,  which  should 
cause  a  decrease  in  the  demand  for  home-grown  corn, 
without  a  corresponding  increase  of  demand  for  other  things 
which  English  farmers  could  raise.  In  fact,  what  has  just 
been  said  of  the  landlords  ought  rather  to  have  been  said 
of  the  farmers,  since  the  landlord  could  suffer  only  through 
the  farmer's  loss.  Supposing  transition  from  corn-growing 
to  other  kinds  of  production  inevitable,  the  thing  which  the 
farmers  have  to  fear  is  temporary  stagnation.  The  best 
way  to  produce  a  temporary  stagnation  of  farming  business 
seems  to  be,  by  enabling  the  bulk  of  the  people  to  buy 
foreign  corn  without  enabling  them  to  buy  English  milk, 
butter,  cheese,  and  meat :  the  only  way  to  prevent  such 
nation,  by  Buddenly  making  bread  very  cheap,  so  that 
ih,  demand  tor  farm  produce  not  corn  should  at  once  equal, 
it  it  did  not  exceed,  the  present  demand  for  corn  and  other 
things  together. 

Ln  two  points  of  view  more,  the  farmers  appear  to  be 
interested  in  a  sudden  repeal  of  the  corn-laws;  first  as 
capitalists,  and  secondly  as  holders  of  leases.     "  A  farmer," 


ENLARGING    THE    FIELD    OP    EMPLOYMENT,    &C.         147 

says  the  author  of  Cheap  Corn  best  for  Farmers,*  "  is  as 
much  a  capitalist  as  a  shopkeeper  or  a  manufacturer  ;  and 
the  profits  of  farming  capital  must  be  lowered  by  any  cause 
which  lowers  the  profits  of  other  capital.  A  farmer's  gain 
cannot  be  permanently  greater  than  that  of  other  capitalists. 
He  has,  in  common  with  other  capitalists,  a  very  strong  in- 
terest in  high  profits."  Of  course  he  has ;  and  is  not  one  object 
of  free  trade  in  corn  to  raise  the  profits  of  capital  generally, 
by  enlarging  the  English  field  of  production  1  If,  by  the 
purchase  of  bread  from  other  countries,  the  field  of  produc- 
tion should  be  so  much  enlarged  as  to  raise  the  common 
rate  of  profit,  farmers'  profits  could  not  but  rise ;  and  the 
sooner,  of  course,  this  change  should  take  place,  the  better 
for  the  farmer,  as  for  the  manufacturer  and  shopkeeper. 
Secondly,  supposing  the  aggregate  value  of  land  to  be 
raised,  partly  in  consequence  of  land  which  was  inferior  for 
one  purpose  becoming  superior  for  other  purposes,  and  still 
more  by  the  extension  of  all  the  higher  degrees  of  com- 
petition, many  leases,  which  now  are  only  contracts,  might 
become  bonds  for  the  landlord,  and,  for  the  tenant,  securi- 
ties worth  a  premium.  Supposing  the  demand  for  other 
things  than  corn  to  become  suddenly  greater  than  the 
demand  for  corn  and  other  things,  and  supposing,  further,  a 
rapid  increase  of  wealth  and  population,  one  can  imagine 
landlords  envious  of  their  tenants  under  lease. 

Thirdly,  what  would  be  the  influence  of  cheapness  of 
bread,  obtained  slowly  or  suddenly,  on  the  condition  of 
agricultural  labourers  ?  "  Oh  !  take  pity  on  the  poor  labour- 
ers," say  some  landlords;  u  if  you  put  an  end  to  the  growth 
of  corn  in  England,  you  will  diminish  employment  for  that 
unfortunate  class,  and  so  lower  their  wages."  This  pro- 
fession of  tenderness  for  the  pauper  herd  means  :  Beware 
of  increasing  the  poor's-rate,  which  falls  on  us  landlords. 
And  though  a  good  part  of  the  poor's-rate,  levied  in  the 
corn  districts  of  England,  be  not  borne  by  the  landlords,  all 
that  part,  namely,  with  which  the  farmers  pay  wages,  and 
which  must  have  been  paid  without  poor-laws,  still,  since 
paupers  maintained  in  idleness  are  kept  by  the  landlords,  it 
is  true  that,  as  agricultural  labourers  were  thrown  out  of 
employment,  the  landlords  would  have  to  keep  more  people. 
But  it  does  not  follow,  that  the  poor's-rate  would  increase 
because  the  number  of  persons  to  be  maintained  in  idleness 

*  Mr.  Henry  Drumrnond,  who  founded  the  professorship  of  Political 
Economy  at  Oxford,  and  who,  in  this  pamphlet,  recognises  the  doctrine, 
that  profits  depend  on  the  proportion  between  capital  and  the  field  of  produc- 
tion. 


148      FREE  TRADE  IN  CORN  AS  A  MEANS  OF 

was  greater.  The  rate  payers  would  have  the  benefit  of 
cheap  bread,  like  all  other  classes,  except  the  paupers, 
whose  money  allowance  would  be  diminished  as  bread  be- 
came cheaper.  Thus,  even  supposing  a  great  decrease  of 
agricultural  employment,  in  consequence  of  a  great  decrease 
in  the  price  of  bread  (and  one  could  not  take  place  without 
the  other)  it  might  be  as  broad  for  the  landlords  as  it  was 
long  ;  not  to  reckon  their  greater  means  of  paying  the 
same  amount,  in  consequence  of  the  greater  value  conferred 
upon  their  land  by  extending  to  it  higher  degrees  of  com- 
petition. For  three  reasons,  however,  it  appears  probable, 
nay  certain,  that  cheapness  of  bread,  if  it  should  come 
suddenly,  would  not  throw  any  agricultural  labourers  out  of 
employment ;  in  which  case,  the  difference  between  cheap 
bread  and  dear  bread  would  be  so  much  pure  gain  to  the 
payers  of  poor's-rate.  Because,  first,  as  capital  now  used 
in  corn-growing  could  be  easily  used  in  producing  other 
kinds  of  food,  so  could  corn-growing  labour  be  easily  turned 
to  the  production  of  turnips,  potatoes,  beetroot,  clover, 
tares,  lucern,  &c,  and  to  the  management  of  sheep  and 
cattle.  Transition,  then,  is  not  so  much  to  be  feared  as 
stagnation;  and  the  way  to  prevent  stagnation  is  to  make 
the  transition  suddenly  ;  a  new  and  perhaps  a  greater  de- 
mand for  the  produce  of  farm  labour  arising  at  the  moment 
when  the  old  demand  should  cease  ;  not  waiting  for  the  in- 
crease of  population.  Because,  secondly,  if,  which  may  be 
doubtful,  the  various  modes  of  cultivation  substituted  for 
corn-growing  should  require  fewer  hands  than  are  now  em- 
ployed in  agriculture,  still,  all  the  cheap  corn  brought  to 
England  must  be  purchased  with  English  labour  ;  and  this, 
as  it  could  not  increase  suddenly,  would  bear  a  less  propor- 
tion to  employment,  so  soon  as  a  free  trade  in  corn  had  pro- 
vided profitable  investments  for  great  masses  of  capital  now 
lying  idle  or  about  to  go  abroad.  If  any  one  should  say 
that  agricultural  labourers  would  not  be  fit  for  those  occu- 
pations by  which  cheap  corn  was  purchased.  1  would  ask 
him,  whether  the  wild  Irish  cottiers  be  fit  for  the  great 
quantity  of  manufacturing  work  which  they  perform  in 
England  I  and  would  tell  him  further,  that  during  the  last 
war  between  America  and  Bngland,  American  husband- 
men found  no  difficulty  in  turning  their  hands  to  all  sorts  of 
manufacturing  employments.  Lastly,  because  the  more 
productive  use  of  the  national  capital,  without  reckoning 
any  increase  of  it,  would  create  a  new  demand  for  labour 
in  a  hundred  kinds  of  work,  for  which  peasants  are  already 


ENLARGING    THE    FIELD    OP    EMPLOYMENT,  &C.         149 

quite  fit ;  such  as,  merely  for  example,  in  building  factories, 
warehouses,  houses,  and  mansions,  in  making  wharves, roads, 
canals,  bridges,  gardens,  and  pleasure  grounds,  in  cultiva- 
ting kitchen  vegetables  and  perishable  fruit,  in  porterage 
and  domestic  service ;  which  new  demand  could  not,  for 
some  time,  be  supplied  by  a  corresponding  increase  of 
people. 

All  these  reasons  for  concluding,  that  cheapness  of  bread 
would  rather  increase  than  diminish  employment  for  agri- 
cultural labourers,  are  so  many  reasons,  likewise,  why 
bread  cannot  become  too  cheap,  nor  become  cheap  too 
suddenly  for  the  good  of  that  miserable  class.  It  must  be 
acknowledged,  however,  that  a  class  already  so  abject, 
would  not  be  injured  by  that  gradual  repeal  of  the  corn- 
laws  which,  lowering  the  demand  for  English  corn  without 
for  some  time  raising  the  demand  for  other  productions  of 
English  land,  would  injure  the  present  race  of  farmers  and 
landlords.  In  that  case,  some  agricultural  labourers  who  now 
work  for  pauper's  allowance,  would  receive  pauper's  allow- 
ance without  working  for  it ;  and  the  difference  would  fall 
upon  the  landlords,  after,  in  some  cases,  falling  on  tenants 
under  lease.  Cases  might  occur,  in  which  the  paupers  would 
become  the  landlords  by  eating  the  whole  rent,  though  with- 
out any  change  in  their  condition  either  for  better  or  worse. 
Verily,  the  more  one  reflects  on  the  subject,  the  more  plain 
does  it  seem,  that  the  lords  of  the  soil  are  deeply  interested  in 
making  bread  very  cheap  as  quickly  as  possible.  But  this, 
probably,  they  will  never  understand  ;  for  do  not  they  set 
their  faces  against  rail-roads  :  blind  to  the  certainty  of  profit 
and  thoughtful  only  of  their  pheasants'  tranquillity. 

All  the  other  classes,  manufacturers,  shipowners,  mer- 
chants, dealers,  professional  men,  clerks,  and  workmen  of 
every  kind,  whose  comfort  depends  on  the  rates  of  profit  and 
wages,  that  is,  on  the  proportion  which  these  classes  and 
their  capital  bear  to  the  field  of  production;  these  classes, 
though  they  and  their  capital  would  increase  slowly  with  a 
gradual  fall  in  the  price  of  bread,  might  not  obtain  higher 
profits  and  wages  unless  the  price  of  bread  should  fall  more 
rapidly  than  they  and  their  capital  should  increase.  If  the 
field  of  production  were  enlarged  by  slow  degrees,  capital 
and  labour  might  increase  at  the  same  rate  ;  in  which  case 
there  would  be  no  change  of  proportion  among  the  three 
elements  of  production.  In  that  case,  the  wealth  and  popu- 
lation of  England  would  increase,  far  more  rapidly,  perhaps, 
than  since  the  war  ;  there  would  be  more  capitalists  and 


150  FOREIGN    CORN-TRADE    OF    ENGLAND, 

more  labourers,  more  factories,  warehouses,  ships,  roads, 
and  houses,  more  signs  of  wealth;  but  no  improvement  in 
the  condition  of  either  capitalists  or  labourers.  Whereas,  a 
sudden  enlargement  of  the  means  for  employing  capital 
with  profit,  so  great  an  enlargement  suddenly  that  capital 
and  labour  should  for  some  time  bear  a  lower  proportion  to 
the  field  of  production,  must  raise  profits  and  wages  both 
together.  For  the  sake,  then,  of  the  industrious  classes 
generally,  bread  cannot  be  made  too  cheap,  nor  be  made 
cheap  too  soon. 

Referring  to  the  preceding  note,  all  classes,  and  especially 
the  new  ruling  order,  have  a  deep  political  interest  in  mak- 
ing bread  very  cheap  all  at  once.  It  will  be  impossible  to 
qualify  the  bulk  of  the  people  for  taking  a  part  in  the  gov- 
ernment unless  their  wages  be  raised,  unless  they  obtain 
some  leisure  and  peace  of  mind.  Their  wages  will  not  be 
raised,  if  they  should  increase  in  number  as  fast  as  bread 
becomes  cheaper.  As  respects  them,  the  object  is  to  make 
the  staff  of  life  very  cheap,  without  a  fall,  if  possible  with  a 
rise,  of  money  wages  :  and  this  can  be  accomplished,  if  at 
all,  only  by  a*  great  and  sudden  fall  in  the  price  of  bread. 
For  the  sake  of  all  classes  and  on  every  account,  therefore, 
it  appears  that,  rather  than  get  rid  of  restrictions  on  the 
corn-trade  by  a  slow  process,  which  should  begin  to-mor- 
row and  end  twenty  years  hence,  the  English  would  do  far 
better  if  they  had  sufficient  patience  to  leave  the  corn  laws 
untouched  for  twenty  years,  and  then  repeal  them  at  one 
blow. 


NOTE  VII. 


CLOSE    RELATION     BETWEEN    THE    FOREIGN    CORN-TRADE    OF 
ENGLAND    AND    THE    FOREIGH    TRADE    OF    CHINA. 

Object  of  the  English  in  ;i  free  corn-trade — Very  cheap  corn  not  raised  ex- 
cept by  slaves — Why  so— Direcl  trade  between  English  manufacturers 
and  the  producer!  of  cheap  corn,  must  1»-  very  limited — Indirect  trade 
for  procuring  cheap  corn,  by  means  of  direcl  trade  with  the  Chinese 
Empire. 

The  foreign  oorn-tradeof  England  and  th<'  foreign  trade 
of  the  Chinese  empire  appear,  ;tt  6rs1  si<_rht,  to  be  subjects 
notclosely  related;  but  a  \<n  brief  inquiry  will  show  the 
most  intimate  crrnne\H>n  between  them. 


AND  FOREIGN  TRADE  OF  CHINA.  151 

A  free  trade  in  corn  would  be  of  but  little  service  to  the 
English,  if  there  were  not  plenty  of  people  in  the  world 
ready  to  buy  English  manufactured  goods  with  cheap  corn. 
To  every  trade  there  must  be  two  parties :  he  who  sells 
must  buy,  and  he  who  buys  must  sell.  The  English  can 
produce  very  cheap  cotton  and  woollen  goods,  and  very 
cheap  hardware ;  but  of  what  service  would  it  be  to  them 
to  produce  more  of  these  cheap  things,  without  a  market  in 
which  they  could  be  exchanged  for  cheap  corn  ?  It  is  very 
important,  therefore,  with  reference  to  the  foreign  corn- 
trade  of  England,  to  see  who  in  the  world  are  the  produ- 
cers of  the  cheapest  corn. 

Very  cheap  corn  is  not  produced  anywhere,  in  large 
quantities,  except  by  the  labour  of  slaves,  black  or  white, 
called  slaves  or  serfs.  This  is  a  fact  so  well  known,  that 
as  a  fact  one  need  not  dwell  on  it ;  but  why  is  it,  that  serfs 
in  Poland,  and  slaves  in  America,  produce  cheaper  corn  than 
freemen  anywhere  ? 

More  than  one  English  economist  would  perhaps  say,  that 
the  peculiar  cheapness  of  slave-grown  corn  is  owing  to  the 
cheapness  of  slave-labour ;  the  wages  of  such  labour  consist- 
ing only  of  a  bare  subsistence  for  the  labourer.  But  in  what 
country,  except  North  America  and  some  new  colonies,  do 
the  wages  of  free  labour  employed  in  agriculture  much  ex- 
ceed a  bare  subsistence  for  the  labourer  ?  Perhaps,  speaking 
generally,  it  might  be  shown,  that  slaves  have  more  to  subsist 
on  than  free  labourers  employed  in  agriculture,  as  undoubt- 
edly farm-horses  in  England,  being  a  valuable  property,  are 
better  fed  than  English  peasants.  But,  it  might  be  said,  the 
subsistence  of  slaves,  though  more  in  quantity,  is  less  in  cost, 
by  reason  of  the  cheapness  of  the  produce  of  their  labour  on 
which  they  live.  To  say  this,  however,  would  be  to  put  the 
effect  for  the  cause.  In  the  next  place,  considering  the  prime 
cost  of  slaves,  a  very  important  point,  their  stupidity,  the 
cost  of  curing  them  when  ill,  and  of  maintaining  them  dur- 
ing sickness,  their  carelessness,  and  the  great  cost  of  keep- 
ing them  in  order,  with  the  loss  occasioned  by  the  total 
escape  of  some  of  them  and  the  cost  of  getting  back  some 
who  escape  ;  taking  all  these  points  into  consideration,  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  labour  of  slaves  is  dearer  than  that  of 
freemen,  though  the  produce  of  their  labour  be  cheaper.  If 
labour  were  the  only  element  of  production,  this  contradic- 
tion could  not  occur ;  the  labour  being  dear,  the  produce 
could  not  be  cheap.  But  land  also  is  an  element  of  pro- 
duction.    Wherever  very  cheap  corn  is  produced,  land  is 


152  FOREION    CORN-TRADE    OF    ENGLAND, 

very  cheap ;  and  though  in  such  cases  the  corn  be  raised 
by  slaves,  its  cheapness  seems  attributable  to  the  cheapness, 
not  of  the  labour  which  raises  it,  but  of  the  land  on  which 
it  is  raised.  Still  it  will  be  asked,  if  this  were  the  case,  why 
should  not  very  cheap  corn  be  raised  by  free  labourers  on 
cheap  land.  Because,  I  answer,  where  land  is  very  cheap 
and  all  men  are  free,  where  every  one  who  so  pleases  can 
easily  obtain  a  piece  of  land  for  himself,  not  only  is  labour 
very  dear,  as  respects  the  labourer's  share  of  the  produce, 
but  the  difficulty  is  to  obtain  combined  labour  at  any  price. 
As  the  two  greyhounds  running  together  catch  more  hares 
than  four  running  separately,  so  the  labour  of  slaves,  though 
dear  compared  with  that  of  free  labourers  in  most  coun- 
tries, is,  being  combined,  much  more  productive,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  number  of  hands  employed,  than  the  divided  la- 
bour of  freemen  wherever  land  is  very  cheap.  This  ex- 
plains why  slavery  and  great  cheapness  of  land  have  gen- 
erally existed  together ;  showing  besides,  that  the  cheap- 
ness of  corn  raised  by  slaves  is  owing,  not  to  the  cheapness 
of  slave-labour,  but  to  the  cheapness  of  land  ;  that  same 
cheapness  of  land  being  also  the  cause  of  slavery.  I  have 
dwelt  fully  on  this  point  in  a  note  on  the  origin,  progress, 
and  prospects  of  slavery  in  America. 

Now  the  master  of  slaves  and  serfs  would  not  be  apt  to 
produce  cheap  corn  for  the  English  market,  if  he  had  no 
prospect  of  being  paid  for  it  except  with  English  manufac- 
tured goods.  A  Polish  or  Russian  noble,  or  a  slave-owner 
in  Virginia,  if  he  were  to  exchange  the  produce  of  his  land 
directly  with  a  Manchester  manufacturer  for  the  produce 
of  steam-engines,  would  hardly  know  what  to  do  with  his 
purchase.  The  English  will  be  able  to  obtain  a  great  deal 
of  very  cheap  corn,  only  by  an  indirect  trade  ;  selling  their 
manufactured  goods  where  such  things  are  in  great  request, 
for  things  which  are  in  great  request  with  the  producers  of 
cheap  corn  ;  just  as  the  Genoese  buy  corn  and  meat  in  Pied- 
mont with  salt-fish  and  hard  money,  which  they  first  obtain 
by  means  of  trade  with  North  and  South  America.  By 
what  indirect,  and  perhaps  very  complicated  traffic,  cheap 
corn  would  come  to  England  in  consequence  of  cheap 
manufactured  goods  going  from  England,  the  English 
government  need  not  inquire:  that  is  a  point  which  may 
gafely  be  left  to  the  traders,  and  any  meddling  with  it  by 
the  government  could  not  but  be  hurtful.  But,  whether 
there  be  in  the  world  a  sufficient  demand  for  manufactured 
goods  to  enable  the  English  to  obtain  cheap  corn  by  some 


MEANS  OF  EXTENDING  FREE  TRADE,  &C.      153 

indirect  trade,  is  a  question  of  the  greatest  moment  to  the 
whole  people.  Further,  if  there  be  any  foreign  restriction 
on  the  foreign  demand  for  English  manufactured  goods, 
restrictions  which  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  English  govern- 
ment to  remove,  interference  for  that  purpose  is  a  proper 
office,  a  bounden  duty,  of  government.  The  nation  who, 
but  for  the  existence  of  certain  restrictions  on  trade,  would 
probably  buy  the  greatest  amount  of  English  manufactured 
goods,  are  the  Chinese ;  and  it  so  happens  that  the  Chinese 
possess  a  good  deal  of  that  commodity  which,  being  in 
great  request  everywhere,  would  be  readily  exchanged  for 
cheap  corn,  namely,  silver.  Thus,  between  the  question 
examined  in  the  following  note  and  that  of  the  English 
foreign  corn  trade,  there  is  a  close  and  very  important  re- 
lation.* 


NOTE  VIII. 


MEANS   OF  EXTENDING    FREE    TRADE    TO   THE    WHOLE    COAST 
OF    CHINA. 

Interest  of  the  Americans  in  this  question — Chinese  restrictions  on  trade-— 
The  Chinese  people  more  inclined  to  commerce  than  the  English  or 
Americans — Chinese  government  dislikes  foreign  trade  on  political 
grounds — Restrictions  lead  to  a  free  trade — Description  of  the  free  trade 
which  actually  takes  place  in  China — Obstacles  to  the  extension  of  this 
free  trade — Several  modes  of  removing  those  obstacles — One  mode  will 
endanger  the  trade  between  America  and  China — Safest,  cheapest,  and 
best  mode,  commercial  stations  near  the  coast  of  China — To  be  formed, 
if  not  by  Englishmen,  then  by  Americans. 

A  great  change  in  the  English  trade  with  the  Chinese 
is  about  to  take  place.  The  strict  monopoly  of  that  trade 
by  the  holders  of  India  stock  will  presently  cease.  The 
English  will  soon  be  free,  so  far  as  their  own  government  is 
concerned,  to  trade  with  the  Chinese  ;  but  it  does  not  follow 
that  the  Chinese  will  be  free  tD  trade  with  the  English. 
To  every  trade  there  must  be  two  parties  ;  and  the  advan- 
tages derived  from  trade  depend  on  combination  of  power, 
or  concert,  for  the  distribution  of  employments.  How  are 
the  English  to  obtain  cheap  silver,  the  produce  of  Chinese 
labour,  wherewith  to  purchase  cheap  corn,  the  produce  of 

*  See,  further,  Note  on  the  Art  of  Colonization. 
20 


154  MEANS    OF    EXTENDING}    FREE    TRADE 

Virginian  labour,  if  the  Chinese  are  not  permitted  to  buy 
hardware  and  cotton  goods,  the  produce  of  English  labour  ? 
The  escape  of  the  English  from  a  certain  restraint  will  not 
of  itself  set  the  Chinese  free.  On  the  contrary,  there  ap- 
pears some  reason  to  fear  that  the  removal  of  restraints  on 
the  English  may  lead  to  greater  restraints  on  the  Chinese  ; 
and  not  merely  as  respects  their  trade  with  the  English,  but 
also  in  their  trade  with  the  Americans  and  others.  And, 
at  any  rate,  the  trade  between  England  and  China  could  not 
be  much  enlarged  without  removing  the  actual  restrictions 
on  that  trade,  which  are  independent  of  the  English,  which 
depend  either  on  the  Chinese  government  or  on  the  habits 
of  the  Chinese  people.  The  nature  of  those  restrictions 
and  the  means  of  entirely  removing  them  form  the  subject 
of  the  following  remarks,  which  are  addressed  to  the 
Americans  as  well  as  to  the  English  ;  seeing  that  both  na- 
tions  are  concerned  in  the  establishment  of  a  free  and  secure 
trade  with  China,  and  that  if  the  English  will  not  establish 
such  a  trade,  the  Americans  may  do  it  for  them,  as  will  be 
shown  presently.  If  I  were  to  add,  that  some  steps  had 
been  taken  with  this  view  by  Americans,  not  a  few  of  the 
English  would  be  jealous  of  their  "  transatlantic  brethren," 
Good  !  the  sooner  the  two  nations  begin  to  rival  each  other 
in  undertakings  of  this  kind,  the  better  for  both  of  them. 

Much  as  the  English  and  Americans  are  given  to  trade, 
in  that  respect  they  are  far  surpassed  by  the  people  of 
China.  "  The  propensity  to  truck,  barter,  and  exchange," 
which  Adam  Smith  describes  as  the  original  cause  of  wealth 
and  civilization  (it  is  the  first  cause  after  a  surplus  produce 
has  been  obtained  by  combination  of  power),  is  stronger  and 
much  more  general  in  China  than  in  any  other  country. 
Upon  this  point  there  is  abundant  evidence.*  Yet  the 
Chinese  have  made  less  progress  in  the  art  of  navigation 
than  any  other  people  addicted  to  commerce  ;  and  their 
government  exceeds  all  others,  whether  of  pasl  or  present 
times,  in  animosity  to  foreign  trade.  Upon  these  main 
facts,  the  commercial  disposition  of  the  I Ihinese  people,  their 
Ignorance  of  navigation,  and  the  dislike  of  their  government 
to  foreign  trade,  must  turn  every  speculation  on  the  present 
subject 

The  people  of  China  are  most  desirous  to  trade  with 
foreigners  ;  but  their  ignorance  of  navigation  prevents  them 

*  For  tlif  information  of  A  nericana,  tome  curious  e\  idence  of  i  ho  industry, 
skiTl,  iiml  commercial  disposition  of  the  Chines'e  people  is  printed  in  the 
Appendix  (No.  li. 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  155 

from  trading  out  of  China.  Their  foreign  trade,  therefore, 
is  necessarily  conducted  in  China,  and  depends  on  the  pres- 
ence of  foreign  dealers  and  foreign  ships.  This  point  should 
be  carefully  borne  in  mind.  Trade  with  the  Chinese  never 
has  been,  and  for  ages  to  come  never  will  be,  conducted 
without  the  presence  of  foreign  dealers  and  foreign  ships 
on  the  coast  of  China. 

But  the  Chinese  government  detests  or  rather  dreads 
foreigners,  and  lays  all  sorts  of  restrictions  on  their  pres- 
ence in  China,  confining  them  to  a  single  port  and  subject- 
ing them  to  many  insults  and  injuries.  If  the  propensity 
of  foreigners  to  trade  with  the  Chinese,  and  of  the  Chinese 
to  trade  with  foreigners,  were  not  stronger  than  the  Chinese 
government,  there  would  be  no  foreign  trade  in  China. 
That  government,  however,  has  not  much  power  over  its 
own  subjects.  The  men  who  compose  it  are  not  Chinese, 
but  Tartars,  who  conquered  China  about  two  hundred  years 
ago.  Like  the  Mohammedans  who  conquered  India,  and 
the  English  who  conquered  and  colonized  Ireland,  they  are 
perfectly  distinct  from  the  subject  race.  The  weakness  of 
the  rulers  of  China  arises  partly  from  their  foreign  origin, 
and  partly  from  the  great  extent  of  their  empire.  Such 
power  as  they  possess  depends  solely  on  the  ignorance 
and  timidity  of  their  subjects.  Hence  their  dread  of 
foreigners  and  their  apparent  animosity  to  foreign  trade. 
If  people  could  buy  and  sell  without  personal  intercourse, 
the  Tartar  government  of  China  would,  by  all  accounts, 
encourage  foreign  trade  for  the  sake  of  revenue.  It  is  not 
the  trade  which  they  dislike,  but  the  traders.  Nor  is 
their  dread  of  foreigners  surprising.  "  The  history  of 
European  commerce  in  the  East  is  really  nothing  but  the 
history  cf  a  continued  series  of  usurpations  ;  nor  can  any 
one  acquainted  with  the  subject  feel  surprised,  that  such 
native  princes  as  had  the  means  excluded  those  from  their 
territories  whose  object  was,  not  to  maintain  a  fair  and 
friendly  commerce,  but  to  extort  oppressive  privileges  and 
to  make  conquests."*  But,  in  addition  to  the  fear  lest  for- 
eigners should  make  conquests  in  China,  the  rulers  of  that 
country,  being  themselves  foreigners  and  conquerors,  dread 
lest  their  own  subjects  should  be  led,  by  intercourse  with 
other  foreigners,  to  think  of  rebellion.  We  have  it  in  evi- 
dence that  the  mandarins  of  China  were,  like  the  mandarins 
of  England,  terrified  at  the  great  French  revolution. 
Every  restriction  which  the  government  of  China  imposes 

*  Edinburgh  Review,  No.  CIV. 


156        MEANS  OF  EXTENDING  FREE  TRADE 

on  the  intercourse  between  its  subjects  and  foreigners,  its 
acuteness  and  diligence  in  limiting  that  intercourse  to  what 
is  indispensable  for  carrying  on  a  very  limited  trade,  the 
strict  enforcement  of  rules  by  which  foreigners  were  pre- 
vented from  moving  beyond  a  narrow  spot  set  apart  for 
their  use,  and  foreign  women  are  excluded  from  China,  the 
care  with  which  on  such  occasions  as  embassies  to  Pekin 
foreigners  have  been  guarded,  watched,  and  led,  as  it  were, 
caged,  through  the  empire  ;  all  these,  and  many  more  prac- 
tices of  the  same  kind,  may  be  traced  to  a  political  feeling; 
to  a  nervous  horror  of  revolutionary  principles.  The  em- 
peror and  his  mandarins  are  anti-jacobins ;  not  stout,  like 
George  III.  and  his  boroughmongers,  but  very  timid,  being 
enervated  by  gluttony,  excessive  venery,  and  the  use  of 
opium. 

But  the  feebleness  and  cowardice  of  the  Chinese  govern- 
ment have  two  opposite  effects  upon  trade;  producing 
numerous  legal  restrictions,  and  encouraging  the  people  to 
set  those  restrictions  at  naught.  Wheresoever  trade  is 
restricted  there  are  smugglers.  On  the  coast  of  China, 
where  everybody,  opportunity  serving,  is  a  trader,  all  the 
people  are  smugglers;  not  excepting  the  officers  employed 
to  prevent  smuggling.  Of  the  foreign  trade  of  China  but 
a  small  part  is  carried  on  according  to  law.  Moreover, 
the  legal  trade,  in  which  there  are  only  seven  Chinese 
dealers,  and  which  is  confined  to  a  small  number  of  com- 
modities, is  a  trade  by  which  foreigners  lose.  The  English 
East  India  Company  would  have  lost  more  than  they  have 
gained  by  the  legal  trade,  if  they  had  traded  to  the  same 
extent  without  a  monopoly  of  the  British  market.  There 
will  be  no  legal  trade  in  China  when  the  Company's  mono- 
poly of  the  British  market  shall  cease.  My  authority  for 
this  statement  is  Mr.  Marjoribanks,  chief  of  the  Company's 
factory  at  Canton.  The  following  question  and  answer 
occur  in  his  late  examination  before  a  committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons: — "  Q.  If  the  tendency  of  the  trade 
in  China  is  to  get  into  the  smuggling  line,  will  not  the 
Company,  acting  on  different  principles,  and  being  from  its 
circumstances  unable  to  enter  into  that  trade,  be  at  a  dis- 
advantage against  persons  who  have  no  scruples  of  that 
description  ? — A.  If  the  question  put  to  me  contemplate 
tlw  subversion  of  the  Company,  I  think  we  should  be  all 
smugglers  in  China  together,  and  there  would  be  no  legal 
trade  in  China.11  .lust  so:  when  there  shall  not  be  any 
body  exclusively  privileged  to  sell  tea  in  England,  nobody 


TO   THE    WHOLE    COAST    OP    CHINA.  157 

will  buy  tea  of  the  seven  privileged  Chinese  tea  dealers. 
The  English  monopoly  supports  the  Chinese  monopoly : 
put  down  the  one,  and  down  goes  the  other.  To  some 
extent,  every  witness  examined  by  the  House  of  Commons 
helps  to  confirm  this  opinion;  and  none  more  effectually 
than  the  servants  of  the  Company,  who  seem  to  have  over- 
looked that  an  argument  against  their  own  privileges  would 
be  drawn  from  their  admission,  that  the  Canton  monopoly 
depends  on  the  monopoly  in  Leadenhall-street.  On  other 
occasions  the  partisans  of  the  Company  have  taken  great 
pains  to  conceal  the  importance  of  the  illegal  trade;  per- 
ceiving, of  course,  that  if  that  illegal  trade,  in  which  they  take 
no  direct  part,  should  appear  more  important  than  the  legal 
trade,  their  monopoly  of  the  English  market  and  of  the 
coast  of  China  as  an  English  trading  station,  would  be  con- 
sidered doubly  unjust  and  injurious  to  the  English  people. 
With  this  view  they  have  spoken  in  sneering  terms  of  the 
illegal  trade,  calling  it  the  smuggling  trade,  and  swearing 
that "  respectable  merchants"  would  not  engage  in  it;  the 
fact  being,  all  the  while,  that  a  large  proportion  of  the 
smuggling  trade  consists  of  the  sale  of  opium  to  the  Chinese  ; 
that  the  importation  of  opium  is  strictly  prohibited  by  the 
Chinese  government,  "  on  a  moral  principle,"  as  Mr.  Mar- 
joribanks  assures  us  ;  and  that  the  opium  smuggled  into 
China  is  grown  by  the  Company  in  India,  sold  by  the  Com- 
pany, with  a  full  knowledge  of  its  destination,  to  those  who 
smuggle  it  into  China,  and  smuggled  into  China  by  means 
of  licenses  from  the  Company,  without  which  the  foreign 
smuggler  could  not  enter  the  Chinese  seas.  So  much  for 
the  delicacy  of  the  most  "  respectable  merchants"  in  mat- 
ters of  trade.  But  in  truth,  those  who  conduct  the  illegal 
trade  of  China  do  not  smuggle,  properly  speaking.  They 
buy  and  sell  whatever  they  please,  of  whom  and  to  whom 
they  please,  without  let  or  hindrance  from  the  government. 
The  imperial  edicts,  which  forbid  the  Chinese  to  quit  their 
own  country  for  any  purpose,  and  which  declare  that  no 
Chinese,  save  only  the  seven  Hong  merchants  of  Canton, 
shall  deal  with  foreigners ;  these  orders  are  all  moonshine, 
mere  sham,  as  were  the  English  laws  against  bribing  at 
elections.  The  Chinese  mandarins,  like  the  English  bor- 
oughmongers,  are  among  the  first  to  treat  the  law  as  a 
dead  letter.  Thus,  while  legally  trade  is  nowhere  so 
much  restricted  as  in  China,  the  Chinese  enjoy  greater 
freedom  of  trade  than  any  other  commercial  people ;  as 


158        MEANS  OF  EXTENDING  FREE  TRADE 

will  appear  by  the  following  instructive,  and,  one  may  add, 
entertaining  account  of  what  is  called  the  smuggling  trade. 


Extracts  from  DobeJVs  Residence  in  China. 

"In  defiance  of  an  annual  edict  from  the  emperor,  mak- 
ing it  death  to  smuggle  opium,  the  enormous  quantity  of 
nearly  4000  chests  is  imported  every  year  to  Macao  and 
Whampao.  *  *  *  *  *  It  is  a  business  that  all  the 
inferior  mandarins,  and  some  of  the  higher  ones,  their  pro- 
tectors, engage  in :  so  that  opium  is  carried  through  the 
streets  of  Macao  in  the  most  barefaced  manner,  in  the 
open  day.  Large  boats,  armed,  having  from  thirty  to 
forty  men,  ply  between  Macao  and  Canton  when  that 
market  offers  an  advantageous  price. 

"  I  have  known  many  persons  send  large  sums  of  specie 
by  these  boats  to  Macao,  at  a  moderate  rate,  and  never 
heard  of  an  accident  happening  to  them  in  any  way.  All 
metals  are  prohibited  from  being  exported,  except  zinc; 
there  are,  however,  immense  quantities  smuggled  into  the 
English  East  India  cotton  ships;,  whenever  they  wish  to 
buy  more  than  the  portion  allowed  by  government." — Vol. 
ii.  p.  148. 

"  The  Chinese  have  an  extensive  foreign  commerce 
carried  on  by  their  own  junks  to  Japan,  Cochin  China, 
Siam,  Tonquin,  Sumatra,  Java,  Borneo,  Macassar,  and 
indeed  to  all  the  Indo-Chinese  islands.  The  Chinese  de- 
clare this  trade  is  the  most  important  of  any  of  their  exter- 
nal relations  ;*  and  we  may  believe  them  when  there  are 
said  to  be  upwards  of  40,000  tons  of  shipping  occupied  with 
that  and  the  salt  trade.  We  know,  also,  that  a  Chinese 
junk,  bound  to  the  islands,  carried  :i  cargo  of  from  3  to 
f>00,()0()  dollars'  value  in  China  ware,  nankeens,  silks, 
ready-made  clothes,  hooks,  writing-paper,  ironmongery, 
tea,  instruments  of  husbandry,  iron,  cloth,  &C.  &c." — Vol. 
ii.  p.  175. 

'■  Nothing  can  be  more  barefaced  than  the  manner  in 
which  smuggling  is  conducted  in  open  day  at  \\  nampao." — ■ 
Vol.  ii.  p.  ]::■.'. 

*  It  is  wholly  contrary  to  law. 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  159 


Extracts  from  the  Evidence  delivered  before  the  Select 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  Affairs  of 
the  East  India  Comjjany,  §c.     First  Report. 

Charles  Marjoribanks,  Esq.,  a  servant  of  the  East 
India  Company  in  their  China  factory  for  seventeen  years, 
the  greater  part  of  that  time  resident  in  China. 

"  Has  any  change  taken  place  in  the  trade  within  your 
recollection? — Yes,  very  considerable  changes  have  taken 
place  in  the  foreign  trade  generally.  One  of  the  greatest 
changes  which  has  taken  place,  and  which,  in  my  own 
opinion,  will  sooner  or  later  affect  the  security  of  our  trade, 

is  THE  ENORMOUS  EXTENT  OF  THE  SMUGGLING  TRADE  NOW 

carried  on  in  China  ;  among  the  islands  in  the  mouth  of 
the  Canton  river,  to  a  very  great  extent  indeed  ;  so  much 
so,  that  if  the  Chinese  government  had  the  inclination,  I  do 
not  imagine  they  possess  the  means  of  putting  it  down,  at 
least  by  any  marine  force  which  they  have." 

"  Will  you  be  good  enough  to  state  to  the  committee,  if 
you  know,  in  what  other  articles,  besides  opium,  the  smug- 
gling trade  is  carried  on  upon  the  coast  of  China? — I  con- 
ceive that  at  present  it  extends  to  nrticles,  more  or  less,  of 
every  description  ;  not  on  the  coast  of  China,  but  among 
the  islands  in  the  mouth  of  the  Canton  river." — "  Articles 
of  British  manufacture  ? — I  am  not  aware  of  any  individual 
instance  where  smuggling  of  articles  of  British  manufacture 
has  existed  ;   bud  1  I; now  nothing  to  preclude  it." 

"  You  have  stated  that  the  smuggling  trade  in  China  has 
become  very  extensive  ;  has  not  the  increase  of  that  smug- 
gling trade  a  tendency  to  injure  the  fair  trade  ? — I  think  it 
has  a  tendency  to  do  so,  in  as  far  as  articles  smuggled  into 
the  country  that  evade  duty  can  be  sold  at  a  profit,  when 
articles  which  pay  government  duties  cannot." — "  Is  not 
the  opium  trade  in  China,  which  you  state  to  exist  to  the 
extent  of  13,000,000  or  14,000,000  of  dollars  a  year,  en- 
tirely an  illicit  trade? — Entirely  prohibited  by  the  Chinese 
government." 

"  Has  not  the  Chinese  government,  in  its  conduct  towards 
foreigners,  who  have  attempted  to  fix  themselves  in  their 
harbours,  shown  itself  a  shrewd  government,  acutely  un- 
derstanding its  own  interests  ? — I  think  that  the  Chinese 
are  a  highly  intelligent  people,  remarkable  for  their  industry 
and  perseverance  ;  but  I  think  they  are  oppressed  with  one 


1G0        MEANS  OF  EXTENDING  FREE  TRADE 

of  the  most  corrupt  governments  that  ever  weighed  down 
the  energies  of  a  people." 

"  If  it  should  be  the  case,  that  the  American  or  foreign 
merchant  has  carried  on  a  trade  of  this  (prohibited)  de- 
scription with  profit,  when  the  Company  have  been  carry- 
ing it  on  with  loss,  would  not  that  prove  that  their  trade 
has  been,  in  this  article  at  least,  better  conducted  than  that 
of  the  Company  ? — It  might  not  prove  that  it  was  better 
conducted,  for  it  might  arise  from  the  circumstances  I  have 
stated,  of  some  of  those  goods  having  been  smuggled  into 
China,  having  evaded  the  Chinese  duties." — "  If  the  tend- 
ency of  the  trade  in  China  is  to  get  into  the  smuggling 
line,  will  not  the  Company,  acting  upon  different  principles, 
and  beinrr  from  its  circumstances  unable  to  enter  into  that 
trade,  be  at  a  disadvantage  against  persons  who  have  no 
scruples  of  that  description  ? — If  the  question  put  to  me 
contemplates  the  subversion  of  the  Company,  /  think  we 
should  be  all  smugglers  in  China  together,  and  there  would 
then  be  no  legal  trade  in  China" 

"  Would  not  the  temptation  to  smuggling  be  irresistible 
if  the  trade  was  carried  on  in  small  vessels  ? — I  imagine 
that  individuals  who  do  not  much  respect  the  laws  of  the 
country  will  not  consent  to  pay  duties  which  they  can 
evade  by  acting  in  opposition  to  those  laws." — "  Is  the 
smuggling  carried  on  among  the  Chinese  by  what  are 
called  outside  merchants  ? — This  term  is  applied  in  com- 
mon to  all  merchants  not  members  of  the  Hong  ;  some  of 
them  are  smugglers,  some  mere  shopmen." 

John  Francis  Davies,  Esq.,  a  servant  of  the  East  India 
Company  in  China,  who  travelled  for  six  months  through 
the  interior  of  the  empire. 

"  What  impression,  in  your  opinion,  would  be  produced 
upon  the  Chinese  generally  by  throwing  open  the  trade  to 
British  merchant*  generally  ?  The  whole  body  of  smugglers 
at  Canton  would  rejoice.  The  government  would,  in  the 
first  instance,  view  it  with  jealousy,  as  they  view  every 
change;  and  when  they  came  to  lose  their  revenue,  they 
would  view  it  with  hostility.  They  have  already,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  extraordinary  amount  of  smuggling  (not 
only  relative  to  contraband  articles,  such  as  opium,  but  in 
the  case  of  articles  that  pay  duty),  lost  so  much  that  they 
have  issued  edict  after  edict  directed  against  those  indi- 
viduals and  those  nations  who  principally  partake  in  this 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  161 

smuggling  trade  ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  they 
would  go  on  ad  infinitum  in  their  endurance,  or  consent  to 
the  conversion  of  the  whole  trade  of  Canton  into  a  smug- 
gling intercourse."* 

"  Can  you  state  the  probable  amount  of  the  tonnage  em- 
ployed in  the  country  trade  carried  on  between  India  and 
China,  with  reference  to  the  Company's  tonnage  ? — The 
report  on  the  table  speaks  to  that  fact?  it  is  nearly  equal, 
at  all  events,  to  that  of  the  Company.  It  arises,  not  from 
there  being  so  large  a  quantity  of  tonnage  actually  employed, 
but  from  the  quickness  of  the  returns,  and  from  the  com- 
parative smallness  of  distance,  enabling  one  ship  to  make 
two  voyages  in  the  year."—"  Is  that  trade  carried  on  with- 
out the  intervention  or  assistance  of  the  Company's  servants 
at  Canton  at  all  ? — A  very  large  portion  of  it  consists  of 
smuggling  trade,  and  therefore  must  be  entirely  out  of  the 
Company's  cognizance." 

"  Is  there  not  a  very  considerable  smuggling  trade  in 
other  articles  imported  into  China  from  Europe  1 — I  believe 
that  a  great  deal  has  been  smuggled  into  China." 

"  Have  the  Hong  merchants  themselves  taken  part  in 
this  smuggling  trade  ? — Far  from  it ;  they  were  sold,  not  to 
Hong  merchants,  but  to  outside  shopmen." 

"  You  were  understood  to  state  that  some  of  the  Hong 
merchants  have  been  ruined  by  their  mixing  with  the 
smuggling  trade  ? — Not  at  all  ;  they  have  been  ruined  by 
the  smuggling  trade.  They  pay  heavy  duties  and  exactions 
to  the  government,  on  account  of  the  advantages  which 
their  situation  affords  them  in  the  monopoly  of  the  regular 
trade  ;  and,  as  the  smuggling  trade  must  necessarily  be 
carried  on  by  persons  who  do  not  pay  those  heavy  exac- 
tions, and  who  in  fact  frequently  evade  the  regular  duties, 
they  must  necessarily  be  ruined  by  the  extension  of  such  a 
course  of  transactions." 

"Have  you  any  means  of  judging  what  proportion  of  the 
whole  imports  into  China  consists  of  the  smuggling  trade  ? 
It  is  impossible  to  say  exactly  how  much,  because  the 
smuggling  is  secret,  and  therefore  not  so  open  to  investiga- 
tion :  but  with  regard  to  opium,  we  know  that  the  amount 
of  the  annual  importation  into  China  is  upwards  of  10,000,000 
of  dollars." 

"  Were  you  at  Canton  in  September,  1828  ? — I  was." 

"  Did  you  hear  that  a  ship  called  the  Merope  had  returned 

*  It  is  a  question  of  power,  not  of  inclination, 
21 


162         MEANS  OF  EXTENDING  FKEE  TRADE 

to  Canton  after  having  been  a  voyage  as  high  up  as  to 
Ningpo,  having  made  a  very  profitable  voyage,  and  con- 
verted the  whole  of  her  cargo,  to  a  very  large  extent,  into 
specie? — It  ?nust  have  been  entirely  surreptitious, if  she  did; 
and  I  judge  that  her  cargo  was  opium." 

"  Do  you  conceive  that  such  a  thing  would  be  possible  ? 
I  should  say  very  improbable,  until  the  fact  spoke  for  it- 
self; from  surmise,  I  should  say  it  was  a  thing  that  could 
not  easily  occur,  but  that  by  smuggling  a  ship  might  manage 
to  introduce  goods  in  that  way." 

"  You  have  stated  that  the  Chinese  government  have 
issued  many  edicts  against  smuggling ;  have  those  edicts 
been  carried  into  force  or  not  ? — They  certainly  have,  to 
the  utmost  capability  of  the  weak  Chinese  government.  I 
would  say,  that  they  have  rather  shown  the  hostility  of  the 
Chinese  government  to  the  system,  than  that  they  have  been 
very  effective  in  suppressing  it." 

"  Do  you  consider  that  smuggling  has  been  decreased  by 
them,  or  the  contrary? — I  should  say  that  the  xoeak  and  ill- 
organized  government  of  China  cannot  follow  up  its  edicts  by 
a  corresponding  effectiveness ;  and  they  have  probably,  in  a 
great  measure,  proved  unavailing." 

Charles  Marjoribanks,  Esq. 

"  Has  not  the  smuggling  trade  in  camlets  increased  ? — A 
good  many  Dutch  camlets  have  been  imported  by  Dutch 
ships ;  and  camlets  have  also  been  imported  on  private 
account." 

"  Are  the  committee  to  understand,  that  although  the 
trade  of  opium  is  prohibited  under  very  severe  penalties, 
yet  that  the  quantity  imported,  and  the  prices  at  which  it 
is  sold,  are  as  regularly  known  as  any  other  article  which 
is  authorized  and  regularly  imported  ? — //  is  made  no  secret 
of;  it  is  generally  known  by  the  parties  who  deal  in  it.  and 
they  communicate  it  to  others.  The  prices  of  opium  are 
always  given  in  the  Canton  Register,  a  public  newspaper." 

"Can  you  inform  the  committee  how  the  trade  of  opium 
is  carried  on  ? — When  I  first  went  to  China,  the  opium-trade 
was  at  Macao,  from  which  it  went  to  Whampoa,  and  is 
now  confined  to  the  islands  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  The 
opium  smuggling-boats  go  alongside  the  ships  in  the  open 
face  of  day,  and  the  opium  is  delivered  to  them  on  their 
presenting  what  is  called  an  opium  order  from  the  agent  in 
Canton." 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  163 

"  Is  this  trade  carried  on  within  the  view  of  the  officers 
of  government  and  the  men-of-war  boats  of  the  Chinese  ? 
— Frequently  within  the  view  of  the  men-of-war  boats." 

"Are  these  boats  stationed  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese 
authorities  within  reach  and  view  of  this  trade? — Not 
regularly  stationed :  they  frequently  go  and  come  there. 
They  are  constantly  manoeuvring  about,  and  often  report  to 
the  Canton  authorities  that  they  have  swept  the  seas  of  all 
smuggling  ships.     The  ships  remain  there  just  the  same." 

"  Then,  in  point  of  fact,  it  may  be  said  that  the  smuggling 
trade  in  opium  is  carried  on  with  the  connivance  of  the 
Chinese  authorities? — With  the  connivance  of  the  lower 
government  authorities ;  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  of  the 
higher  authorities." — "  Is  that  the  case  in  the  smuggling  of 
other  articles  ? — Yes,  it  is." 

"  Under  what  privilege  is  silver  exported  ? — The  Chinese 
laws  prohibit  the  exportation  of  any  metal :  dollars  are 
allowed  to  be  exported  from  China,  but  not  bullion,  but  it 
has  always  been  exported  to  a  large  amount." 

"  Are  not  the  smugglers  of  China  a  very  powerful  body  ? 
do  not  they  move  in  considerable  fleets  upon  the  shore  ? — 
Not  in  fleets ;  but  their  boats  are  very  well  manned  and 
armed." — "Do  not  they  set  the  government  at  defiance? — 
Entirely,  I  should  say,  when  they  have  sea-room." 

"Do  you  suppose  that  the  government  is  capable  of 
keeping  them  under  I — They  possess  no  marine  force  capa- 
ble, in  my  opinion,  of  suppressing  them. 

"  Is  the  force  of  the  smugglers  upon  the  increase  or  upon 
the  decrease  ? — The  smuggling  trade  of  China  is  materially 
upon  the  increase." 

"Are  the  transactions  of  the  smuggling  trade  carried  on 
with  as  much  fidelity  and  regularity  on  the  part  of  the 
Chinese  as  the  transactions  of  the  regular  trade? — With 
wonderful  regularity,  considering  the  nature  of  the  trade ; 
certainly  not  with  the  same  regularity  as  those  of  the  legal 
trade." 

Mr.  John  Aken,  formerly  master  of  the  Investigator, 
and  afterward  commander  of  the  Exmouth,  trading  between 
India  and  China. 

"  Is  it  not  a  fact,  that  they  (the  outside  merchants)  bring 
the  boats  alongside,  and  then  it  is  thrown  out  of  the  ship 
into  the  boats  ? — Yes :  when  I  sold  my  opium  I  gave  an 
order  upon  the  chief  officer  to  deliver  it ;  but  the  person  to 


164  MEANS    OF    EXTENDING?    FREE    TRADE 

whom  I  sold  it  takes  the  risk  entirely  in  taking  it  from  the 
ship;  he  pays  me  for  it  before  he  gets  the  order." — "  What 
does  he  generally  pay  you  with  ? — In  dollars  or  sy-cee."* 

"  Do  yon  happen  to  know  the  method  by  which  the  opium 
is  smuggled  into  the  country  ? — They  take  it  from  alongside 
in  smuggling  boats  that  are  well  manned  and  armed,  and 
there  are  a  great  many  rivers,  branches,  and  islands,  and 
different  places,  and  they  are  off  directly  with  it,  and  they 
put  all  the  government  boats  at  defiance,  I  have  seen  that 
myself.  I  have  seen  four  mandarin  boats  surrounding  my 
ship  when  I  had  thirty  chests  of  opium  to  smuggle,  and  I  was 
prevented  from  going  to  sea  on  account  of  the  opium,  and  I 
sold  it  to  the  people.  I  went  down  myself  and  saw  the  way 
that  they  smuggled  it;  they  stripped  the  chest  entirely  away, 
and  took  nothing  but  the  opium,  and  put  it  into  bags;  and  we 
opened  the  lower-deck  port,  and  in  one  moment  they  put 
the  opium  into  the  boat,  and  all  hands  were  off  in  a  moment ; 
we  did  that  in  a  very  heavy  shower  of  rain.  There  was 
a  cry  out  about  three  minutes  afterward,  but  the  boat  was 
gone  like  a  shot." — "  Were  the  mandarin  boats  lying  near? 
— One  was  lying  a-head  touching  the  ship,  another  was 
lying  at  the  stern,  and  another  was  lying  upon  the  opposite 
side." — "  They  were  there  to  prevent  smuggling  ? — Yes." 

"  Do  you  obtain  greater  or  less  price  for  your  opium  in 
proportion  to  the  degree  of  vigilance  of  the  mandarin  boats  ? 
— No,  I  never  knew  any  difference  made  on  that  account." 

"  If  the  mandarin  boats  had  not  been  there,  should  you 
have  obtained  a  larger  price  ? — I  do  not  think  we  should 
have  got  more  ;  they  a/trays  make  certain  of  it ;  and  it 
always  struck  me,  that  there  was  an  understanding  between  the 
smugglers  and  the  mandarin  boats  ;  there  is  an  apparent 
vigilance  kept  up  which  has  no  existence  in  my  opinion.  I 
have  been  told  so  by  a  number  of  peopled 

"  Might  not  other  commodities,  of  small  bulk,  be  intro- 
duced into  China  by  the  same  means? — /  should  think  they 
could,  very  easily." 

"  Do  you  happen  to  know  whether  it  is  a  practice  with 
regard  to  any  other  commodities  except  opium  I — Saltpetre, 
which  is  a  bulky  article,  is  smuggled.  /  used  to  smuggle  it 
myself ;  at  least  I  Carried  it  /here,  and  it  was  smuggled  by 
the  people  to  whom  I  sold  it. 

"  Is  saltpetre  a  prohibited  article  in  China? — No,  you 
can  sell  it  to  the  government  if  you  please  ;  but  we  cannot 

•  Silver  bullion,  of  which  the  exportation  is  prohibitri}. 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  165 

sell  it  so  well  to  the  government.     We  can  generally  get 
about  two  dollars  a  pecul  by  smuggling  it." 

"  Is  that  on  account  of  the  duty  paid  to  government  ? — I 
think  it  is." — "  Have  you  known  of  any  other  article  being 
smuggled? — I  think,  sometimes,  broad-cloth  is  smuggled." 
— "  By  the  Americans  or  the  English  ? — By  the  English. 
I  once  carried  two  bales  of  cloth,  and  it  was  smuggled,  I 
know,  but  wherefore  I  cannot  say,  because  it  did  not  belong 
to  me." 

Second  Report  of  Minutes  of  Evidence. 

Mr.  John  Argyle  Maxwell,  who  resided  at  Sinca- 
pore  for  more  than  six  years,  and  who  went  several  times 
to  Canton. 

"  Do  you  know  whether  there  is  much  smuggling  in 
China  in  the  articles  of  export? — As  far  as  my  own  ex- 
perience went,  I  found  the  parties  who  were  not  Hong 
merchants  ready  to  make  a  bargain  either  vxiy,  that  is,  to 
deliver  the  article  as  a  smuggled  article  at  Lintin,  or  in  the 
usual  way  at  Whampoa." 

"  Have  you  ever  known  of  the  country  ships  proceeding 
to  Chinese  ports,  north  of  Canton,  and  trading  with  the 
natives? — I  have  heard  of  several  of  those  adventures." 

"  Can  you  state  what  the  cargoes  were  that  they  took  ? — 
The  cargoes  generally  consisted  of  opium  almost  altogether  ; 
in  some  cases  they  took  a  little  saltpetre,  I  believe." 

"  Did  they  find  any  difficulty  in  effecting  sales  with  the 
natives  ? — I  understood  that  they  always  effected  sales  ;  I 
did  not  hear  that  there  were  any  extraordinary  difficulties." 

"What  were  the  ports  they  went  to? — Many  of  the 
ports  have  escaped  my  recollection,  but  I  remember  the 
port  of  Chingchoo,  and  Chusen,  and  the  island  of  Formosa." 

"  Do  you  know  where  these  ports  were  situated  ? — Ching- 
choo is  in  the  province  of  Fokien." 

"  What  reception  did  you  understand  the  natives  gave 
those  adventurers  ? — I  believe  they  gave  a  good  reception. 
A  Spanish  gentleman,  who  was  a  supercargo  in  one  of  the 
expeditions,  told  me  that  he  landed  on  Formosa,  and  walked 
several  miles.  I  recollect  his  mentioning  particularly  that 
he  observed  the  remains  of  European  houses  there,  which 
he  considered  to  have  been  the#remains  of  those  that  were 
occupied  by  the  former  Dutch  factory  at  Formosa." 

"  Do  you  know  how  long  it  is  since  that  factory  was  re- 
moved?— I  should  think  more  than  100  vears." 


166         MEANS  OF  EXTENDING  FREE  TRADE 

"  Did  you  understand  that  the  sales  which  were  effected 
at  the  northern  ports  were  at  a  considerable  advance  above 
the  Canton  prices? — I  could  not  understand  that  there  was 
any  great  advance.  I  heard  the  parties  mention  that  they 
found  the  Chinese  dealers  there  in  possession  of  regular 
price-currents  from  Canton,  stating  the  stock  on  hand  of 
opium,  and  other  circumstances  connected  with  the  market." 


Captain  Abel  Coffin. 

"Have  you  been  at  Sincapore  and  Siam? — I  have." — 
"  Have  you  found  any  quantity  of  Chinese  junks  there  ? — 
At  Siam  a  large  quantity." 

"  What  quantity  have  you  ever  seen  there  at  one  time  ? 
— I  should  think  eighty." 

"Of  what  size? — Some  of  them  would  carry  700  or  800 
tons,  and  some  others  perhaps  200  or  300." — "  Do  these 
junks  carry  on  an  extensive  trade  with  different  parts  of 
China  besides  Canton  ? — They  are  principally  from  other 
parts  ;   very  few  from  Canton." 

"  Do  thev  import  teas  in  any  considerable  quantities  into 
Siam  ?— They  do." 

"Did  you  find  any  Chinese  teas  there? — A  large  quan- 
tity. I  should  have  had  no  difficulty  at  any  time  in  loading 
one,  two,  or  three  ships  of  the  size  that  I  had  there." — 
"  What  quantity  of  tea  ? — Principally  black  teas  :  Souchong 
and  Congou  of  very  good  quality." 

Extract  from  a.  Statement  delivered  to  the  Parliamentary 
Committee,  by  Mr.  Crawfurd.     Third  Report. 

"  The  Chinese  junks,  properly  constructed,  pay  no 
measurement  duty,  and  do  kumsha  or  present ;  duties,  how- 
ever, are  paid  upon  goods  exported  and  imported,  which 
seem,  however,  to  diner  at  the  differepl  provinces.  They 
are  highest  at  Amoy,  and  lowest  in  the  island  of  Hainan. 
The  Chinese  traders  of  Siam  informed  me  that  they 
carried  on  the  fairest  and  easiest  trade,  subject  to  the  feweil 
restrictions  in  the  ports  of  Ningpo  and  Sianghai  in  Chokian, 
and  Souchon  in  Kiannan*  Great  dexterity  seems  every- 
where to  be  exercised  by  the  ( Ihinese  in  evading  the  duties. 
One  practice,  which  is  very  often  followed,  will  afford  a 

good    example   of   this.      The   coasting    trade  of  China    is 
nearly  free  from  all  duties  and  other  imposts.     The  mer- 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OP    CHINA.  107 

chant  takes  advantage  of  this,  and  intending  in  reality  to 
proceed  to  Siam  or  Cochin  China,  for  example,  clears  a 
junk  out  for  the  island  of  Hainan,  and  thus  avoids  the  pay- 
ment of  duties.  When  she  returns,  she  will  lie  four  or  five 
days  off  and  on  at  the  mouth  of  the  port,  until  a  regular 
bargain  he  made  with  the  custom-house  officers  for  the  reduc- 
tion of  duties.  The  threat  held  out  in  such  cases  is  to  pro- 
ceed to  another  port,  and  thus  deprive  the  public  officers  of 
their  customary  perquisites.  I  was  assured  of  the  frequency 
of  this  practice  by  Chinese  merchants  of  Cochin  China,  as 
well  as  by  several  commanders  of  junks  at  Sincapore. 
From  the  last  named  persons  I  had  another  fact  of  some 
consequence,  as  connected  with  the  Chinese  trade,  viz. 
that  a  good  many  of  the  junks  carrying  on  trade  with 
foreign  ports  to  the  westward  of  China,  often  proceeded  on 
voyages  to  the  northward  in  the  same  season.  In  this 
manner  they  stated  that  about  twenty  considerable  junks, 
besides  a  great  many  small  ones,  proceeded  annually  from 
Canton  to  Souchon,  one  of  the  capitals  of  Kiannan,  and  in 
wealth  and  commerce  the  rival  of  Canton,  where  they  sold 
about  200  chests  of  opium  at  an  advance  of  fifty  per  cent, 
beyond  the  Canton  prices.  Another  place  where  the  Can- 
ton junks,  to  the  number  of  five  or  six,  repair  annually,  is 
Chinchoo,  in  the  province  of  Shanton,  within  the  Gulf  of 
Pechely,  or  Yellow  Sea,  and  as  far  north  as  the  37th  de- 
gree of  latitude." 

Walter  Stevenson  Davidson,  Esq.*  a  merchant,  a 
naturalized  Portuguese,  chief  of  a  large  mercantile  house 
at  Macao. 

"  Have  you  any  means  of  judging  whether  the  trouble 
attending  the  sale  of  opium  is  less  now  since  the  ships  were 
removed  from  Whampoa,  and  stationed  themselves  at  Lin- 
tin,  outside  the  river  1 — I  should  say,  that  I  do  not  believe 
there  is  much  difference  in  the  trouble,  but  a  vast  difference 
in  the  anxiety  ;  because,  in  the  one  case,  they  were  liable 
to  seizure  any  day,  in  the  other  case  they  lie  in  a  spot 
where  they  can  defend  themselves  against  any  power  that 
can  come  against  them." 

"  You  mean  to  say,  that  the  trade  in  your  time,  while  the 
ships  lay  at  Whampoa,  was  more  difficult  than  it  is  now  ? 
— More  full  of  anxiety  ;  there  was  no  difficulty  in  it :  it  was 
a  very  good  business." 

"Did  you  ever  know  of  any  other  articles  except  opium 

•  Now  a  Banker  in  London. 


16S         MEANS  OF  EXTENDING  FREE  TRADE 

being  smuggled  ? — I  have  heard  of  a  great  many,  but  I 
never  smuggled  any  other  articles  myself  in  the  import 
trade." 

"  With  regard  to  the  exports  ? — In  exports  I  smuggled 
very  largely  of  silver,  because  it  ivas  a  prohibited  article,  as 
well  as  opium,  and  so  was  tutenog,  I  believe ;  and  the  rule 
which  guided  me  was,  that  I  would  smuggle  the  articles 
which  were  prohibited,  but  not  those  upon  which  a  direct 
duty  was  laid." 

"  What  responsibility  did  you  consider  to  attach  to  you 
as  an  agent,  selling  a  prohibited  article  like  opium  ? — In  a 
pecuniary  point  of  view  I  never  considered  it  was  a  responsi- 
bility that  could  be  valued,  nor  did  I  ever  charge,  or  pretend 
to  have  a  right  to  charge,  any  thing  for  it ;  personally,  of 
course,  every  man  who  resides  in  China  runs  a  great  risk ; 
the  government,  for  instance,  as  I  have  stated,  knew  full 
wrell  that  a  ship  was  at  Whampoa  with  a  quantity  of  opium, 
that  she  was  to  my  consignment;  and  they  might  have 
imprisoned  me  any  day,  and  said,  till  you  pay  100,000 
tales  you  shall  not  be  released." 

"Did  that  ever  happen  during  vour  residence  there? — 
Never." 

"  Did  you  ever  hear  of  its  happening  ? — Never  :  I  do  not 
think  that  in  the  history  of  trade  there  has  been  an  instance 
of  it." 

"  What  risk  do  you  consider  you  ran  in  smuggling  sil- 
ver ? — None  whatever  beyond  the  seizure  of  the  silver,  with 
which  they  are  always  exceeding  well  satisfied." — "Have 
you  known  many  seizures  made  ? — I  have  known  some, 
but  very  few  indeed,  the  parties  are  so  exceedingly  expert." 

"  In  your  time  did  the  Chinese  undertake  to  put  the  sil- 
ver on  board  for  you? — Yes." 

"What  rate  did  you  pay  them  for  it? — I  bought  the  sil- 
ver of  them,  and  they  undertook  to  put  it  on  board  :  it  was 
delivered  on  board,  and  1  paid  then  sometimes  before 
and  sometimes  afU.  r  th<  u  brought  me  the  captain!*  ret*  ipt 
for  it." 

"  Then  your  own  risk  was  at  an  end  ? — Entirely,  except 
wlunlchose  to  step  out  of  the  way  ai:d  trusted  them, 
which  I  have  often  done  with  all  those  parties,  both  in  sil- 
ver and  in  opium." 

"  Are  you  not  aware  that  those  Custom-house  boats  are 
moored  astern  and  on  the  quarter  of  every  vessel  ? — Cus- 
tom-house boats  are ;  but  I  am  not  aware  that  the  boats 
whose  duty  it  is  to  seize  those  parties  are  moored  there  ; 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  169 

theij  are  far  too  weakly  manned  and  armed" — "  Are  you 
aware  that  those  boats  permitted  the  opium  to  be  landed  ? 
Decidedly." — "  Could  they  prevent  it  if  they  pleased  ? — 
That  does  not  follow ;  they  may  not  be  strong  enough.  I 
have  known  instances  of  the  Chinese  opium  boats  overpower- 
ing all  force  where  it  was  a  very  large  quantity,  and  it  was 
worth  their  while  kitting  and  wounding  men,  but  generally 
they  do  not  attempt  it." — "  On  such  an  occurrence  happening, 
have  you  ever  known  any  notice  taken  of  it  by  the  govern- 
ment ? — Never." 

Captain  Charles  Hutchinson,  a  commander  in  the 
navy,  who  commanded  the  ship  called  the  Bombay  Castle, 
from  Liverpool  to  India,  and  remained  in  the  latter  place 
for  five  years.  He  went  three  times  to  Canton,  three 
several  years  from  Bombay,  with  cargoes  of  cotton  and 
other  Indian  articles. 

"  Supposing  the  Chinese  were  to  put  a  stop  to  the  export 
of  teas  altogether,  are  you  of  opinion  that  the  prohibition 
would  be  effectually  enforced,  so  as  to  prevent  its  being 
sent  to  Sincapore  ? — I  think  it  is  extremely  probable  that 
they  would  be  enabled  still  to  bring  it  to  Sincapore,  but  I 
am  not  certain. 

"  What  do  you  apprehend  would  be  the  effect  in  China 
of  a  total  prohibition  of  the  export  of  teas  ? — It  would  be 
difficult  to  say.  The  Chinese  government  feel  themselves 
to  be  a  very  rotten  soi't  of  government ;  they  know  that  the 
people  are  ready  to  revolt  in  many  of  their  provinces,  and 
they  ivould  therefore  be  very  cautious  how  they  gave  any  cause 
of  discontent  to  any  part  of  their  empire ;  but  whether  they 
are  particularly  afraid  of  that  part  of  it  situated  near  Can- 
ton, I  cannot  tell.  There  are  some  of  the  provinces  where 
they  are  much  more  inclined  to  revolt  and  to  resistance 
than  in  that,  particularly  the  province  of  Chingchoo. 

"  You  are  aware  that  tea  can  be  exported  from  other 
ports  of  China  besides  Canton,  in  Chinese  junks? — Yes,  be- 
cause it  is  brought  to  Sincapore  from  other  parts." — "  Is  it 
brought  from  the  tea  provinces  ? — It  is  brought  by  canals  to 
the  coast,  and  then  put  on  board  the  junks,  who  bring  it  to 
Sincapore. 

"  Are  the  junks  that  come  to  Sincapore  with  tea  loaded 
at  Canton,  or  at  ports  nearer  the  growth  of  the  tea  ? — At 
pons  nearer  the  growth  of  the  tea,  I  believe  ;  I  know  they 
are  not  loaded  at  Canton. 

22 


170        MEANS  OF  EXTENDING  FREE  TRADE 

"  Are  there  any  goods  that  are  reckoned  prohibited  goods 
in  China  exported  by  the  country  ships? — A  large  quantity 
in  almost  every  ship ;  they  chiefly  consist  of  cassia  and  a 
coarser  kind  of  silk,  upon  which  the  duties  are  too  heavy  to 
he  taken  in  the  regular  way ;  they  are  therefore  bargained 
for  with  the  outnde  merchants,  to  be  smuggled  on  board  the 
ship,  and  it  is  done  with  as  great  facility  as  the  regular 
trade  ;  the  mandarins  being  all  feed  and  permitting  it. 

"  Did  you  ever  know  of  an  interruption  to  this  irregular 
trade  ? — None  whatever ;  it  is  as  easily  carried  on  as  the 
regular  trade. 

"  Is  a  large  portion  of  the  assorted  cargoes  exported 
from  China  articles  prohibited  or  subject  to  such  duties  that 
they  are  generally  smuggled  ? — Yes." — "  And  with  the 
knowledge  and  connivance  of  the  mandarians? — Certainly. 
There  is  an  island  near  Whampoa  called  French  Island, 
where  those  smugglers  live.  Goods  intended  to  be  smug- 
gled are  sent  to  French  Island,  and  you  receive  notice  the 
night  before  at  what  hour  the  cargo  will  be  brought :  the 
mandarins  then  surround  the  ship,  and  wait  for  the  smug- 
gling boat;  when  it  comes  alongside  they  send  a  man  in  a 
canoe  to  count  the  packages,  that  no  more  may  be  brought 
to  the  ship  than  they  have  received  their  fee  for.  In  fact, 
their  whole  government  is  one  system  of  corruption  from  top 
to  bottom. 

"  Do  not  you  think  that  the  facilities  they  afford  to  smug- 
gling arise  from  an  anxious  desire  to  extend  the  foreign 
commerce  ? — Certainly,  in  the  people  ;  not  in  the  govern- 
ment, of  course. 

"  In  the  officers  of  the  government,  do  you  attribute  it  to 
a  desire  to  obtain  a  suitable  remuneration  in  return  for  the 
sum  of  money  they  have  given  for  their  offices  ? — Cer- 
tainly. 

"  ft  being  notorious  that  all  those  offices  are  paid  for  ? — 
So  I  have  always  been  told. 

"Could  not  cotton  goods  be  smuggled  to  other  ports? — 
There  was  a  difficulty  in  smuggling  ;it  other  ports  when  I 
was  in  China,  but  sonic  ships  with  opium  succeeded  to  a 
certain  extent  Since  I  left  that  country,  I  understand  that 
they  have  smuggled  to  a  larger  amount,  and  1  suppose 
Other  goods  as  well  as  opium." — "  Do  you  think  that  the 
smuggling  could  be  carried  on  with  the  same  ease  at  those 
Other  ports  as  at  Canton  ? — 1  should  think  not,  because  at 
( '-anion  k  ?•»  si/^tmalv^ed." 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  171 

Third  Report  of  Minutes  of  Evidence. 

John  Stewart,  Esq.  a  member  of  the  committee,  who 
went  to  China  seven  times,  in  the  years  1800,  1803,  1804, 
1805,  1800,  1807-8,  and  in  1817.  " 

"Is  it  your  opinion  that  the  Chinese  government  would 
find  it  very  difficult  to  put  an  end  to  the  foreign  commerce 
with  England  ? — I  think  they  could  do  it ;  but  I  am  of 
opinion  that  if  the  Chinese  government  were  to  put  an  end 
to  that  commerce,  it  would  produce  great  misery  in  China, 
and  particularly  at  Canton,  where  it  is  carried  on. 

"  Would  the  government,  in  your  opinion,  be  strong 
enough  to  accomplish  the  putting  an  end  to  the  trade? — 
My  opinion  is,  that  an  edict  of  the  Emperor  of  China  might 
be  so  enforced  as  to  put  a  stop  to  all  the  regular  foreign 
trade  carried  on  with  China  ;  but  I  do  not  think  that  the 
Chinese  government  could  prevent  smuggling  being 
continued  fr03i  the  coast  of  china,  even  if  they  put 
a  stop  to  the  regular  trade. 

"  Then  you  do  not  mean  to  say  that  you  think  the  Chinese 
government  would  have  power  to  put  a  final  stop  to  the 
progress  of  the  trade  ? — No !  I  think  that  a  smuggling  trade 
would  be  carried  on  on  the  coast  of  China  to  a  very  consider- 
able extent,  in  spite  of  any  act  that  the  Chinese  government 
might  adapts 

Robert  Richards,  Esq.,  who  resided  in  India  twenty- 
four  years,  being  on  the  Bombay  establishment,  and  had 
during  that  time  good  opportunities  of  seeing  what  passed 
in  the  trade  between  India  and  China. 

"Are  you  aware  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  Chinese  govern- 
ment with  regard  to  trade,  and  that  a  comparison  cannot 
therefore  be  fairly  made  between  India  and  China  as  to  any 
expected  increase? — I  know  that  the  Chinese  government 
have  imposed  restrictive  regulations  upon  the  foreign  trade 
of  their  own  country;  but  I  know  at  the  same  time  that 
these  regulations  are  completely  set  at  nought  by  the  com* 
mercial  spirit  of  the  people. 

"  If,  therefore,  English  ships  were  prohibited  going  to 
China,  I  conceive  that  supplies  of  tea  and  other  Chinese 
articles  might  just  as  easily  be  got  from  Sincapoix,  or  Java, 
or  other  ports  in  the  Eastern  Archipelago,  as  they  can  now 
from  China  itself.  These  then  are  the  grounds  of  my  belief, 
that,  under  all  circumstances,  we  have  the  means  of  con* 


172  MIAN?    or    EXTENDING    FREE    TRADE 

trolling  the  trade  with  China,  even  more  effectually  than  the 
Chinese  government  itself;  for  when  the  Chinese  merchants 
and  the  mass  of  the  community  find  that  they  have  an  in- 
terest in  carrying  on  certain  branches  of  trade,  they  will  do 
it,  as  is  sufficiently  manifest  in  their  importation  of  opium 
and  export  of  silver,  in  spite  of  the  most  severe  laws  that  can 
be  enacted  by  their  men  govrrnment.>, 

John  Cra  weird,  Esq.,  appointed  parliamentary  agent 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Calcutta.  He  resided  in  the  Upper 
Provinces  of  the  Bengal  Presidency  for  five  years,  in  Cal- 
cutta one  year,  in  Penang  three  years,  and  in  Java  six 
years.  One  year  he  went  on  a  mission  to  Siam  and  Cochin 
China.  He  resided  in  Sincaporc  about  three  years  ;  after- 
ward was  appointed  commissioner  by  the  governor-general 
in  the  Birman  empire  ;  then  went  as  envoy  from  the  gover- 
nor-general to  the  court  of  Ava ;  after  which  he  returned 
to  Calcutta,  and  eventually  to  Europe. 

"  Supposing  an  interruption  to  take  place  in  the  European 
trade  of  China,  are  you  of  opinion  that  a  considerable  quan- 
tity of  tea  might  be  brought  in  Chinese  vessels  to  Sinca- 
pore  or  some  other  emporium  in  the  Eastern  Archipelago? 
— I  conceive  so.  I  think  it  was  a  great  point,  during  the 
discussions  respecting  the  former  charter  of  the  East  India 
Company,  to  establish  that  fact  themselves.  Mr.  Drum- 
mond,  now  Lord  Strathallan,  gave  it  distinctly  in  evidence, 
that  a  very  large  quantity  of  tea  might  be  imported  into 
Europe  through  such  a  channel.  The  evidence  is  to  be 
found  upon  the  records  of  the  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  I  think  in  1812.  It  seemed,  indeed,  to  be  a 
settled  point,  especially  in  reference  to  the  Philippine  Islands 
and  others.  I  have  a  short  entry  on  this  subject,  taken  out 
of  a  note-book  that  I  kept  at  Sincaporc ;  it  is  dated  the  22d 
of  August,  1825,  and  is  the  result  of  a  conversation  with  the 
commanders  of  some  junks.  '  The  tea  consumed  in  Cochin- 
China  is  brought  from  Tchaotchcn,  on  the  confines  of  Canton 
and  Fokien,  but  in  the  jurisdiction  of  the  former,  to  Hainan, 
from  which  it  comes  to  Saigun  and  other  places. — It  is 
all  the  produce  of  fokien.  Into  Saigun  there  are  annually 
imported  aboul  70,000  boxes  of  tea,  of  twenty  catties  each, 
and  into  Hue  about  10,000  boxes.  It  is  impossible  to  con- 
jecture the  quantity  brought  into  Tonquin,  as  a  great  part 
of  it  is  imported  by  land.  The  price  of  the  ordinary  quali- 
ties at  Tchaotchen  and  Canton  is  twenty-six  dollars  per 
pecul.     The  same  tea  would  be  sold  at  Saigun  for  forty 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  173 

dollars.  My  informants  state  that  any  quantity  whatever 
of  tea  may  be  imported  into  Sincapore,  which  the  market 
may  demand,  from  Chaotcheou,  Changlim,  and  other  parts, 
either  black  or  green.  The  commanders  of  junks  will  do 
this  in  spite  of  any  regulations  to  the  contrary,''" 

John  Stewart,  Esq.,  M.P. 

"  Do  you  think  the  trade  could  be  carried  on  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Canton,  in  any  of  the  islands? — Yes;  I  imagine 
that  tea  might  be  conveyed,  and  in  all  probability  would  be 
conveyed,  to  the  islands  on  the  coast  of  China;  it  might 
be  smuggled  from  thence,  or  it  might  be  sent  in  Chinese  vessels 
to  the  Isla?ids  of  the  Eastern  Archipelago,  and  could  be  ex- 
ported from  thence. 

"  Would  it  be  sufficient  to  supply  the  wants  of  this  coun- 
try?— If  the  Chinese  permitted  the  export  of  tea  in  their 
own  vessels,  I  am  decidedly  of  opinion  that  a  sufficient 
quantity  might  in  that  way  be  exported  from  China  to  supply 
the  wants  of  all  Europe. 

"  Do  you  suppose  that  they  would  do  that  under  such 
circumstances  ? — I  think  they  would  ;  the  Chinese  are  a 
people  of  great  commercial  enterprise,  and  I  think  they 
would  be  disposed  to  send  tea  wherever  they  could  find  a 
sale  for  it  with  advantage." 

Captain  John  Mackie. 

"  You  have  resided  in  India  several  years  ? — I  have,  for 
ten  years." — "  From  what  period  ? — From  1820  to  the  latter 
end  of  1829. 

"Did  you  command  a  ship  in  the  China  trade? — I  com- 
manded a  Spanish  vessel  on  the  coast  of  China. 

"  What  was  this  vessel  engaged  in  ? — In  the  opium  trade." 
— "  She  was  sailing  under  Spanish  colours  ? — She  was. 

"  What  ports  of  China  have  you  visited  ? — I  visited  the 
port  of  Amoy,  and  all  the  ports  between  that  and  Canton. 

"  Were  you  entirely  engaged  in  the  opium  trade  ? — En- 
tirely; I  carried  also  a  little  saltpetre. 

"What  was  the  name  of  the  ship?— The  St.  Sebastian. 

"Whom  was  she  owned  by? — Spaniards." — "Did  any 
part  of  the  cargo  belong  to  British  merchants  ? — Entirely 
British." — "  Can  you  state  any  other  ports  in  China  that  you 
touched  at  besides  Amoy? — Not  any  other  principal  ports  ; 
I  touched  at  all  the  ports  between  Amoy  and  Canton. 


174        MEANS  OF  EXTENDING  FREE  TRADE 

"  You  lay  off  some  ports,  did  not  you  ? — I  lay  off  the 
port  called  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  the  Island  of 
Kamo. 

"At  what  distance  is  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  from 
Canton  ? — About  300  miles  to  the  north-east. 

"Did  you  find  good  shelter  for  your  ship? — Excel- 
lent ;  all  those  harbours  are  as  safe  as  the  port  of  Canton 
itself. 

"  Was  the  trade  you  carried  on  authorized  by  the  laws 
of  China  ? — /  understood  it  was  not  authorized,  but  it  was 
done  quite  openly. 

"In  the  same  way  that  the  opium  trade  is  carried  on  at 
Canton  ? — The  very  same. 

"  Have  you  ever  experienced  any  difficulty  in  carrying 
on  the  trade,  although  not  formally  sanctioned  by  the  Chinese 
laws  ? — Never  the  least. 

"  Who  were  the  parties  with  whom  your  trade  was  car- 
ried on  ? — The  Chinese  merchants. 

"  Resident  at  any  particular  points? — Some  of  them  from 
the  city  of  Amoy,  some  from  Ta-ho,  and  Namo,  and  some 
from  inland  towns. 

u  Have  you  got  better  prices  for  those  articles  than  could 
be  got  at  Canton? — Yes. 

"What  was  the  difference  of  the  price? — About  100 
dollars  upon  the  chest  of  opium,  or  125,  and  sometimes 
150,  or  even  higher. 

"  Is  that  (the  port  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope)  near  any 
town  ? — Yes,  it  is  within  fifteen  miles  of  a  very  large  city, 
the  city  of  Ty-ho. 

"  From  the  time  of  your  arrival,  how  long  were  you 
detained  before  you  disposed  of  the  whole  of  your  cargo  ? 
— From  fifteen  to  twenty  days. 

"  Why  did  you  make  your  returns  in  bullion  only? — I 
was  particularly  desired  by  the  agents  of  the  brig  to  take 
nothing  else. 

"Could   \'<>u   have  had   returns  in   the  produce  of  the 

country? — Leonid  have   had  returns    in  a ny  produce  of the 

provinces,  such  as  sugar,  tea,  castia,  tortoise-shell,  nankeens, 
or  ami  thing  thai  could  be  had. 

"  You  would  have  had  no  difficulty  in  completing  your 

,  of  tb''se  articles  '.  —  Not  the  least. 
"  In  what  manner  is   the   produce  of  the  north-eastern 
provinces  lent  tO  ('anion? — I  presume  it  is  principally  sent 
hv  m;j,  from  the  number  of  large  junks  always  upon  the 
coast. 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  175 

"  Have  you  seen  tea  sent  by  sea  ? — Yes  ;  I  have  been  on 
board  of  two  junks  entirely  loaded  with  tea. 

"  What  was  the  size  of  them  ? — They  could  not  have 
been  less  than  200  tons. 

"  From  whence  did  they  come  ? — They  came  from  Amoy, 
and  they  were  bound  to  Canton. 

"  Did  you  board  the  junks  ? — I  boarded  both  of  them,  and 
sent  letters  by  them  to  Canton." — "  Were  those  letters 
regularly  received  ? — They  were  received  in  due  course. 

"  Do  you  think  you  could  have  loaded  your  vessel  with 
teas  of  good  quality  ? — /  have  no  doubt  I  could  of  the  very 
best  quality.  I  have  no  doubt  I  could  have  had  any  sort  of 
Chinese  produce  that  I  wished. 

"What  species  of  woollens  do  you  think  you  could  have 
disposed  of? — Principally  long  ells  and  fine  broad-cloth  ; 
blankets  and  camlets  also  would  have  sold  very  well ;  they 
are  in  ready  demand  all  along  the  coast  of  China. 

"  Were  there  any  duties  paid  to  the  government  upon 
those  cargoes? — I  never  paid  any  duties  ;  but  I  understood 
that  upon  all  opium  that  is  taken  away  from  the  ships  the 
inferior  officers  of  the  government  get  about  twenty  dollars 
for  every  chest ;  the  Chinese  pay  that  themselves ;  the 
ships  pay  nothing. 

"  Did  you  ever  pay  any  port-charges  of  any  kind  ? — 
Never. 

"  Were  you  ever  annoyed  by  any  of  the  Chinese  authori- 
ties ? — No.  I  have  been  requested,  as  a  favour,  to  shift  my 
situation,  as  the  principal  officer  was  coming ;  and  I  have 
gone  away  and  come  again,  in  one  or  two  days. 

"Perhaps  a  legitimate  trade  was  not  your  object? — Not 
at  all :  we  were  trading  in  prohibited  articles 

"  Do  you  imagine  that  the  contraband  trade  is  more 
profitable  than  the  authorized  trade  ? — I  have  never  been  in 
the  authorized  trade,  and  therefore  cannot  state  that. 

"  Did  any  other  British  ships  under  the  British  flag  pros- 
ecute the  same  trade  that  you  did  at  that  time  ? — Yes  ; 
there  was  an  English  ship,  the  Merope,  belonging  to  Cal- 
cutta ;  the  Velletta ;  the  Eugenia ;  the  Fanecena,  and  the 
Dhaule  schooner. 

"  What  were  those  vessels  ? — All  English  vessels  belong- 
ing to  the  port  of  Calcutta. 

"  Where  were  they  trading  to  ? — To  Formosa,  and  the 
port  of  Nimpo,  which  is  considerably  to  the  north. 

"  Is  not  that  in  the  province  of  Kiangnan  ? — I  believe 
it  is. 


176  HKAIffi    OF    EXTKIIDIfKl    FRfcE    TRADE 

"  Did  those  ships  go  to  Amoy  ? — One  of  them  I  think 
did,  but  they  did  nothing ;  they  knew  that  nothing  could 
be  done  by  the  merchants ;  the  Merope  touched  off  Amoy, 
but  did  not  go  in,  because  she  could  not  trade  in  opium. 

"  Had  you  any  communication  with  the  commanders  of 
those  vessels  ? — Frequently,  although  we  had  different  in- 
terests, all  except  the  Merope. 

"  Was  your  interest  the  same  as  the  Merope? — She  had 
an  agent  of  ours. 

"  Did  you  understand  from  the  commanders  of  those 
vessels,  that  they  carried  on  trade  as  easily  as  you  did  ? — 
With  the  same  facilities  ;  although  I  believe  I  was  rather 
more  fortunate  than  they  were,  being  engaged  in  the  trade 
earlier. 

"  At  the  ports  you  have  named,  do  you  know  whether 
the  import  and  export  duties  are  paid  to  the  government? 
— /  am  not  aware  of  duties ;  I  never  heard  the  duties  men- 
tioned. 

"  Did  the  Americans  ever  engage  in  this  trade? — Amer- 
ican vessels  have  gone  to  the  coast,  but  I  believe  on  British 
account. 

"  Did  the  British  vessels  you  have  named  visit  any  ports 
besides  those  you  have  mentioned  ? — The  Merope  traded 
to  the  port  of  Chingchoo  and  the  Island  of  Formosa. 

"  Did  the  Merope  go  to  Nimpo  and  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  ? — Yes  ;  she  touched  at  every  port  on  the  coast. 

"  Which  do  you  conceive  is  the  best  station  for  carrying 
on  the  trade  ? — The  best  station  I  ever  found,  was  between 
the  Island  of  Namo  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

"  Why  do  you  conceive  that  to  be  the  better  ? — Being 
the  centre  between  two  very  large  towns. 

"  Have  you  ever  been  off  the  province  of  Fokien  ? — Yes. 

"What  harbour  did  you  go  into  there? — I  went  into  one 
of  the  ports  of  Chingch<  n  >. 

"What  was  the  spo-irs  of  cultivation  you  saw  when 
you  landed  there  I — The  only  species  of  cultivation  1  have 
seen  was  rice  and  sugar. 

"  Is  the  trade,  which  you  have  described  as  being  carried 
on  when  you  were  there,  still  carried  on  I — It  is. 

"  In  what  year  was  this? — In  1823* and  L8S4.  After- 
ward I  lay  as  a  depot-ship  at  Lintin." — "How  long  were 
you  altogether  in  <  liina  I — Pour  years  and  a  half. 

"In  what  year  were  the  British  ships  you  have  mentioned 
there? — They  were  there  in  the  same  year  as  myself:  and 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  177 

I  left  some  of  them  lying  as  depot-ships  at  Lintin  ;  they 
are  lying  there  now  as  depot-ships. 

"  Do  you  know  of  any  ships  having  been  there  last  year  ? 
— No;  I  do  not  know  of  any  ship;  there  was  one  vessel 
went  up  in  1828  when  I  was  there,  and  delivered  a  cargo 
upon  the  coast. 

"  What  are  the  depot-ships  ? — They  are  ships  that  lie 
outside  of  the  Is/and  of  Macao,  to  receive  opium,  or  any 
other  goods  that  are  wished  to  be  deposited  on  board  of 
Oiem. 

"  Then  you  have  no  knowledge  of  any  lawful  trade  carried 
on  there  at  all  ?—Not  the  least. 

"  Were  the  others  obliged  to  move  sometimes  as  well 
as  you? — Yes;  we  moved  as  a  favour  to  the  mandarins; 
the  mandarins  come  down  once  or  twice  a  year,  and  send 
a  person  to  warn  you  to  shift  yourselves. 

"  You  were  obliged  to  shift  your  station  ? — We  were 
not  obliged  to  do  this,  but  it  icas  to  favour  them,  that  they 
might  make  a  report  that  it  was  all  clear. 

"  What  number  of  ships  do  you  remember  there  at  any 
one  time  ? — I  have  seen  as  many  as  twenty  ships  at  one 
time. 

"  How  many  European  ships? — I  have  seen  10  Euro- 
pean ships,  and  a  considerable  number  of  American  ships." 

If  this  be  not  free  trade,  what  is  ?  Establish  a  trade  in 
corn  and  Manchester  goods  on  the  same  footing  between 
England  and  America  ;  in  that  case  it  would  be  quite 
needless  to  repeal  the  English  corn  laws  and  American 
tarilf.  But  here  we  must  draw  a  distinction  of  first-rate 
consequence.  The  foreign  trade  of  China,  though  perfectly 
free  in  its  nature,  is  restricted  in  extent.  Though  free 
from  bonds,  permits,  and  taxes,  it  cannot  at  present  be  ex- 
tended beyond  the  Bocca  Tigris,  and  even  on  that  one  spot 
it  is  not  secure.  Upon  this  distinction  the  whole  question 
turns.  The  people  of  England,  by  paying  an  extravagant 
price  for  tea,  have  enabled  twenty-four  men  in  London  and 
seven  men  at  Canton  to  carry  on  a  trade  which  is  called 
legal,  but  which  ought  to  be  called  the  losing  trade.  How 
to  increase  this  trade  is  not  worth  asking :  the  grand  point 
is  to  extend,  not  to  alter,  the  free  trade,  which  the  Chinese 
call  Smug-pigeon,  and  which,  though  of  limited  extent,  is 
perfect  in  its  kind. 

What  then  is  it  that  prevents  the  free  trade  from  spread- 
ing to  the  whole  coast  of  China,  and  increasing  beyond  any 

23 


178         MEAN'S  OF  EXTENDING  FREE  TRADE 

assignable  limit?     The  political  fears  of  the  Chinese  gov- 
ernment.    Therefore,  says   an  Englishman,  send   another 
embassy  to  Pekin  ;  instruct  the  ambassador  to  swear,  like 
Lord  Amherst,  that  he   has  no  commercial  objects,  that  he 
is  sent  across  the  world  "  to  manifest  the  regard  of  his 
Britannic  majesty  for  his  Imperial  majesty,  and  to  improve 
the  relations  of  amity  that  so  happily  subsisted  between  their 
illustrious  parents  Kien-lung  and  George  the  Third :"  but 
this  time  do  not  trust  altogether   to  the   ambassador's  skill 
in  the  art  of  lying  ;  back  him  with  armed  ships;  order  him 
to  talk  of  English  conquests  in  India  ;  tell  him  to  frighten 
the  mandarins   by  a  display  of  English  power,  and  if  ne- 
cessary by  the  use  of  force  :  this  is  the  way  to  calm  the 
political  fears  of  the  Chinese  government.     And  to  destroy 
it  likewise,  we  may  add.     No  one  who  is  acquainted  with 
that  government  can  doubt,  that  such  a  mission,  if  given, 
not  to  a  priggish  lord  of  the  bedchamber,  but  to  a  man 
(a  man,  said   B  >naparte,  is  wanted   in   China),  would   be 
entirely  successful ;  that  it  would  open  the  whole  coast  of 
China  "to  the  presence  of  Englishmen  and   English  ships. 
But  this  object  accomplished  in  this  way,  what  would    be 
the  other  consequences  of  thus  exposing  the  weakness  of 
the  Chinese  government  to  its  own  subjects  and  to  foreign 
nations?     Look  to  it,  Jonathan!     John  Bull  would   have 
gone  to  work  in  this   way  long  ago,  if  the   English  Hong 
had  not  been  deeply  interested  in  preserving  every  bar  to 
the  extension  of  free  trade  in  China.     The   English  Hong 
is  at  end-     Be  alive,  Jonathan  !     Your  smug-pigeon  with 
the  China-man  is  in  danger. 

Even  mere  threats  from  the  English  government,  though 
couched,  as  no  doubt  they  would  be,  in  the  form  of  a  de- 
mand for  redress  of  grievances,  would,  if  they  had  for  object 
the  particular  advantage  of  English  traders  in  China,  be 
viewed  with  jealousy  by  several  governments  of  Europe, 
and  still  more  by  the  United  States.  Suppose,  however, 
that  disregarding  tin-  jealousy  of  other  nations,  the  English 
had  compelled  the  mandarins  t<>  establish  the  trade  of  Eng- 
lishmen in  China  on  a  satisfactory  basis,  would  not  the 
Dutch,  the  Russians,  the  French,  and  above  all  the  Ameri- 
.  demand,  each  nation  for  itself,  as  with  equal  facility 
they  nil  might  obtain,  similar  concessions  from  the  feeble 

mandarins  '     Such  demands  on  the  pari  of  s e,  at  least, 

of  those  nations,  would,  it  seems  hardly  doubtful,  be  the  in- 
evitable consequence  of  the  successful  use  of  force  or  threats 
by  the  English  government.     Thus  the  weakness  of  the 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  179 

government  of  China  would  be  exposed  in  more  than  one 
instance,  to  its  own  subjects  and  to  other  nations.     Other 
exposures  of  the  same  kind  could  not  but  ensue.     For- 
eigners of  all  nations  would  enter  China,  and  further  expose 
to  the  people,  not  the  weakness  only,  but  the  iniquity  also, 
of  the  government.     Next,  the  foreigners  of  each  nation, 
having  obtained  some  footing  in  China,  would,  if  we  con- 
jecture  from  experience,  seek  to  obtain   privileges,  each 
party  striving  to  gain  more  than  its  rivals,  and  to  injure 
them  as  much  as  possible.     Either  the  nature  of  man  is  not 
always  the  same,  or  the  history  of  European  settlements  in 
distant  countries  is  false,  if  this  would  not  be  the  case. 
Considering  also  that  each  party  of  foreigners  in  China 
would  be  so  far  removed  from  the  control  of  its  own  gov- 
ernment as  to  act  almost  without  responsibility,  there  is 
reason  to  expect  that  the  rivalry  among  those  foreign  ad- 
venturers would  not  be  confined  to  trade,  but  would  extend, 
as  soon  as  it  had  been  shown  that  the  mandarins  were  un- 
able to  resist  aggression,  to  interference  between  the  people 
and  their  masters,  to  the  excitement  of  revolt  and  civil  war, 
and  finally  to  territorial  acquisition.     In  this  way,  contests 
must  arise  between  some  of  those  parties  of  foreign  adven- 
turers ;  and  by  degrees  each  party  would,  probably,  enlist 
its  distant  government  in  the  quarrel,  until,  at  length,  the 
miserable  government  of  China  being  dissolved,  or  rather 
dissolving,  as  soon  as  its  weakness  had  been  made  con- 
spicuous, China  would  become,  as  Hindostan  has  been  in 
modern  times,  a  theatre  of  war  for  foreign  nations.     What 
has  preserved  China  from  the  fate  of  India  ?     The  con- 
stancy of  the  mandarins  in  rejecting,  as  they  would  have 
avoided  contact  with  the  plague,  every  proposal  from  for- 
eigners   for    the    establishment    of    friendly    intercourse. 
Timeo  Danaos  et  dona  ferentes  has  been  the  never-failing 
answer  of  the  Chinese  government  to  offers  of  friendship  and 
advantage  from  other  governments.     In  vain  did  the  Dutch 
ambassador  Titzing,  a  fat  man,  crawl  upon  all  fours  into 
the  imperial  presence,  and  remaining  in  that  posture,  beat 
his  head  nine  times  upon  the  ground  ;  in  vain  did  the  lords 
Macartney  and  Amherst  exhaust  the  arts  of  their  craft  to 
wheedle  the  lords  of  China  into  a  belief  that  it  wTas  for  the 
advantage  of  the  great  emperor  to  be  on  terms  of  friend- 
ship with  the  illustrious  king;  in  vain  have  been  self-abase- 
ment, rich  presents,  flattery,  coaxing,  prayers,  lies,  and  re- 
monstrances, when  employed  by  the  governments  of  Europe 
in  order  to  obtain  such  a  footinc;  in   China  as  micrht  have 


180        MEANS  OF  EXTENDING  FREE  TRADE 

furnished  pretexts  for  measures  of  another  kind.  The  ex- 
istence of  the  government  of  China  has  been  preserved  by 
the  constancy  of  the  mandarins  in  rejecting  offers  of  foreign 
friendship.  The  utter  impracticability  of  the  Tartars  is 
their  only  defence.  Break  through  that  single  barrier,  and 
they  must  be  swept  away  by  a  flood  of  internal  revolt  and 
foreign  pretension. 

If  the  existing  government  of  foreigners  were  destroyed, 
it  must  be  succeeded  by  another  government  of  foreigners  ; 
since  the  ignorant,  timid,  and  slavish  people  of  China, 
being  incapable  of  governing  themselves,  would  tacitly  in- 
vite foreigners  to  rule  them,  and  wTould  find  nation  after 
nation  eager  to  undertake  the  task.  In  the  end,  probably, 
the  English,  who  command  the  sea,  would  govern  China 
as  they  govern  India;  and  that  the  people  of  China  would, 
in  the  long  run,  gain  incalculably  by  such  a  change,  there 
cannot  be  the  least  doubt.  But  what,  in  the  meanwhile, 
would  become  of  the  foreign  trade  of  China?  And  what 
could  the  people  of  England  gain  by  ruling  the  Chinese 
empire?  Not  reckoning  the  gratification  of  national  pride 
as  an  advantage,  they  would  gain  nothing  beyond  free  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  the  Chinese  people.  But  they 
might  miss  this,  aiming  at  it  in  this  way  ;  not  to  mention 
what  they  might  lose  in  the  confusion  arising  from  the 
jealousy  of  other  states,  and  the  destruction  of  the  Chi- 
nese government. 

Still,  if  it  w7ere  possible  to  counteract  the  political  fears 
of  the  mandarins  otherwise  than  by  adopting  measures  of 
compulsion  under  the  name  of  diplomacy,  such  measures, 
whatever  the  consequences  likely  to  result  from  them, 
might  be  1  bought  expedient.  But  considering  the  imme- 
diate evils  that  might  arise  from  measures  of  compulsion, 
and  the  jealousy  with  which  they  would  be  viewed  by  the 
Americans  at  least,  such  measures,  however  easy,  however 
sure  of  ultimate  success,  and  however  just  when  viewed 
with  a  mercantile  eye,  will  not  be  thought  expedient  by  the 
English,  provided  it  be  Bhown  that  a  commercial  inter- 
course w  iih  the  <  Ihinese  people,  tree  of  its  nature,  and  with 
out  limit  as  to  extent,  may  be  established  without  delay 
permanently,  at  little  cost,  without  making  a  demand  or 
even  asking  a  favour  of  the  trembling  mandarins,  and 
lastly,  without  exciting  any  national  jealousy.  To  show 
all  this,  is  the  objed  of  what  follows. 

Sir  Stamford  Raffles  founded  the  commercial  station  of 
Sincapore,  in  the  belief  that  the  Chinese  free  traders  would 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OP    CHINA.  181 

readily  find  their  way  to  that  port  in  their  own  ships.  He 
was  mistaken  by  above  twenty  degrees.  Near  twenty 
years'  experience  has  shown  that  the  distance  between 
Sincapore  and  the  most  commercial  parts  of  the  Chinese 
coast  is  much  too  great  for  junk  navigation.  But  Raffles, 
who  was  a  man,  has  pointed  out  the  way  to  extend  the 
free  trade  of  China  without  diplomacy  or  war ;  not  only 
without  further  alarming  the  poor  mandarins,  but  so  that, 
with  the  extension  of  free  trade,  their  present  terrors  should 
entirely  subside.  In  order  to  give  to  the  free  trade  of 
China  its  utmost  possible  development,  the  only  thing 
wanted  is  a  free  market-place ;  a  place  to  which  Chinese 
dealers  could  easily  resort ;  where  foreign  ships  might  lie 
undisturbed  by  wind  or  government,  and  where  foreigners 
might  live  in  security  ;  a  mere  market-place,  convenient 
for  Chinese  dealers,  and  out  of  the  control  of  the  Chinese 
government. 

Along  the  whole  coast  of  China  there  exist  not  less  than 
a  thousand  islands,  some  of  which  possess  all  the  requisites 
of  a  trading  port ;  good  anchorage,  shelter  from  all  winds, 
and  plenty  of  fresh  water.  There  are  more  habitable  isl- 
and snear  the  coast  of  China,  than  along  any  other  coast  in 
the  world  of  the  same  extent.  But  now  observe  another 
peculiarity  :  those  islands  are  not  subject  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  main  land.  Some  of  them  are  uninhabited  ; 
some  are  inhabited  by  a  few  wretched  fishermen,  who  gov- 
ern themselves  ;  and  some  by  a  race  of  pirates,  who  make 
war  against  the  Chinese  government,  occasionally  putting 
a  stop  to  the  coasting  trade,  murdering  great  numbers  of 
Chinese,  levying  tribute  on  the  continent,  and  at  times 
making  peace  with  the  mandarins  on  very  advantageous 
terms.  Some  evidence  on  this  point  appears  in  a  note  be- 
low.* The  emperor  of  China  claims  dominion  in  England, 
and  makes  his  subjects  believe  that  he  receives  tribute 

*  The  Lion  continued  thus  several  days  working  off  the  China  shore,  with 
out  gaining  a  mile.  She  then  stood  over  for  Formosa,  where  there  was  less 
current  against  her,  and  she  made  some  progress  ;  hut  the  turbulence  of  the 
weather  was  such,  that  she  sprung  both  topmasts,  and  was  obliged  to  return 
to  the  Ladrones,  in  order  to  be  in  some  degree  of  shelter,  forthe  purpose  of 
being  refitted,  and  capable  of  renewing  her  efforts  to  get  forward.  Seve- 
ral piratical  vessels,  filled  with  Chinese,  were  hovering  in  this  neighbour- 
hood, and  had  very  lately  taken  several  Chinese  junks,  and  plundered  the 
adjacent  islands.  The  practice  of  these  pirates  is  to  make  slaves  of  such 
able-bodied  men  as  they  take  prisoners,  to  put  the  rest  to  death,  and  to  sink 
the  junks,  and  burn  the  houses,  after  taking  out  whatever  they  deem  valu 
able." — Staunton's  Embassy  to  C/rina,\o\.  ii.  p.  521. 

"  During  the  time  the  pirates  infested  the  coasts,  numbers  of  salt  junks 


182        MEANS  OF  EXTENDING  FREE  TRADE 

from  that  country  ;  but  in  fact,  and  in  right  too,  his  power  is 
limited  by  the  waters  edge  of  the  Chinese  coast.  At  sea, 
the  pirates  are  his  masters,  and  neither  lie  nor  his  ancestors 
ever  conquered  the  islands.  Those  islands,  therefore,  are 
open  to  be  used  by  anybody  for  any  purpose.  If  one  of  the 
Ladrones  or  Pirate  Isles,  were  turned  into  a  market-place 
for  the  traders  of  ail  nations,  the  English  and  Chinese 
Hongs,  were  they  not  in  extremis,  might  complain  that  the 
vested  rights  of  the  pirates  had  been  attacked  ;  but  who 
else  could  find  fault  with  the  conversion  of  one  of  those 
robbers'  nests,  to  so  excellent  a  use  ? 

Not  the  Chinese  government,  to  whom  the  founders  of 
the  market-place  would  say  : — You  dread  foreigners  ;  we 
keep  out  of  your  way.  You  forbid  us  to  enter  your  ports, 
Canton  excepted:  we  withdraw  from  Canton.     You  trem- 

were  intercepted  by  them,  and  saltrose  to  an  extravagant  price.  At  length 
the  Company  were  obliged  to  negotiate  with  the  admiral  of  the  pirates,  and 
paid  a  certain  sum  for  every  vessel  he  furnished  with  a  passport. 

"  After  a  while,  the  captains  and  crews  of  the  salt  junks  became  leagued 
with  the  pirates,  and  used  to  convey  to  them,  clandestinely,  provisions, 
stores,  ammunition,  &c.  The  government  detected  the  connivance,  and 
laid  an  embargo,  of  a  sudden,  upon  the  returning  salt  junks. — The  pirate  ad- 
miral, rinding  his  supplies  cut  olT,  invaded  the  country  about  the  inner  pas- 
sage, leading  to  Macao,  where  he  cut  all  the  ripe  rice,  and  carried  it  off,  as 
well  as  a  threat  number  of  women,  whom  he  presented  to  his  followers. 
His  name  ws  Apo-Tsy,  a  very  formidable  robber,  who  had  an  immense 
fleet  of  junks,  and  upwards  of  20,000  men  under  his  command.  He  at 
length  became  so  daring,  that  he  intercepted  the  boats  carrying  cargoes  to 
the  ships  at  Whampoa,  and  committed  depredations  on  land  within  eighteen 
miles  of  Canton.  The  viceroy  became  alarmed,  for  he  had  no  army  to  op- 
pose him,  and  was  forced  to  employ  an  English  armed  country  ship  to  drive 
him  out  of  tli"  river.  Many  naval  engagements  took  place  between  the 
Chinese  warships  and  the  pirates;  but  the  latter  invariably  obtained  the  vic- 
tory. The  Portuguese  at  Macao  were  also  called  upon,  or  rather  told  their 
olfer  would  be  accepted,  to  fit  out  ships  against  the  pirates,  and  a  sum  of 
money  would  be  granted  to  them  by  the  Canton  government.  However,  very 
little  good  resulted  in  the  way  of  fighting;  bul  the  Portuguese  rendered 
the  viceroy  an  essential  service,  in  the  way  of  negotiation,  as  mediators  be- 
tween him  and  the  pirates.  Apo-Tsy  positively  refused  to  listen  to  the  vice- 
roy's promise  of  an  amnesty,  should  the  pirated  ri  turn  to  their  allegiance, 
without  the  Macao  government  becoming  security  tor  tin'  faithful  perform- 
ance  of  the  contract.    The  Macao  government,  therefore,  came  forward,  and 

fj  itself  to  the  admiral,  who  immediately  submitted  with  all  his  followers, 
I,  i  made  governor  of  the  province  of  Fokiert,  nod  bis  followers  were  all 
pardoned.  Dunn.'  the  wars  w  nli  the  <  Ihinese,  the  pirates  took  a  fleet,  com- 
manded by  a  lhai-tuk, or  admiral,  who  was  uncle  to  the  present  emperor. 
Apo-Tsj  bad  some  dislike  to  the  ( Ihinese  admiral;  and  when  he  took  him, 
ordered  him  to  he  beheaded.  The  present  emperor  (Tao-Kuang)  mi  com- 
ing (..  the  throne,  sent  the  governor  of   IVkieii  a  polite  message  to   say,  that 

■.  s  of  China  required  blood  lor  blood,  and  he  therefore  sent  lor  bis 
head  instead  ol  Ins  uncle's.  There  was  no  excuse  to  be  made,  and  Apo- 
Tny'  □  P(  km." — DobelL,  voL  ii.  p.  153. 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  183 

ble  lest  we  should  sow  revolutionary  principles  among  your 
people  by  residing  with  them  ;  henceforth  there  shall  be  no 
intercourse  between  them  and  us,  save  for  the  purpose  of 
exchanging  goods ;  and  that  intercourse  shall  not  take 
place  within  your  dominions.  Hitherto,  between  you  and 
us  there  have  been  frequent  quarrels ;  but  now  all  grounds 
of  dispute  is  gone  ;  we  demand  no  rights,  ask  no  favours. 
Well  we  know,  that  you  cannot  prevent  your  people  from 
coming  to  us  for  trade  in  this  our  new,  our  own  market- 
place ;  and  sure  we  are  that  if  you  could  do  so,  you  would 
not ;  because  if  you  should  do  so,  the  present  arrange- 
ment, which  ought  to  relieve  you  of  all  anxiety,-must  be 
superseded  by  diplomacy,  which  would  frighten  you  ex- 
tremely, and  in  the  end,  probably,  realize  your  worst  fears. 
The  step  that  we  have  taken  was  devised  expressly  for 
your  comfort ;  tremble  no  more  ;  we  bid  you  farewell  for 
ever. 

Nor  could  the  Americans  object  to  an  English,  any  more 
than  the  English  could  object  to  an  American  trading  sta- 
tion near  the  coast  of  China  ;  provided  that,  in  either  case, 
the  market-place  wras  free,  that  is,  open  to  all  nations  on 
perfectly  equal  terms.  Why  not  so  in  an  island  used 
merely  for  trade,  as  well  as  on  the  main  land,  where,  if  the 
Chinese  government  permitted  trade,  they  would,  as  far 
as  they  might  be  able,  treat  all  the  foreign  traders  alike?  The 
English  exclude  the  Americans  from  Sincapore.  It  so 
happens  that  Jonathan  suffers  little  by  John  Bull's  mean- 
ness in  this  affair  ;  Sincapore  being,  I  repeat,  more  than 
twenty  degrees  too  far  south  for  its  intended  purpose  ;  but 
Jonathan  has  a  right  to  his  revenge,  and  may  take  it,  over- 
coming evil  with  good,  by  establishing  a  Sincapore  in  the 
proper  place,  for  the  use  of  English  as  well  as  the  Chinese 
and  Americans.  Concert  between  two  nations,  w  hose  origin, 
language,  and  real  interests  are  one,  would  be  better  still, 
and  would  not  be  difficult,  if  the  English  ministers,  instead 
of  being  proud,  lazy,  selfish  lords,  were,  like  the  American 
ministers,  active  men  of  business,  liable  to  be  removed  for 
neglecting  the  public  good. 

If,  however,  this  happy  change  should  not  occur  in  time, 
there  are  islands  enough  on  the  coast  of  China  for  all  na- 
tions to  choose  among,  who  may  wish  to  establish  a  market- 
place for  trade  with  the  Chinese ;  and  for  two  reasons  it  is 
very  desirable  that  more  than  one  such  trading  station 
should  be  established.  Because  in  the  first  place,  the  more 
numerous  such  stations,  the  more  easy  would  be  the  total 


184        MEANS  OF  EXTENDING  FREE  TRADE 

suppression  of  piracy  on  the  coast  of  China  ;  and  secondly, 
because  if  there  were  but  one  station,  nearly  opposite  the 
mouth  of  the  Canton  river,  snch  free  trade  as  now  takes 
place  in  that  river,  though  it  would  go  to  that  new  market- 
place, would  not  be  extended  to  the  northern  maritime 
provinces,  where  the  greatest  demand  for  foreign  goods 
exists  and  where  the  principal  exports  of  China  are  raised. 
To  show  how  much  would  be  saved  by  a  direct  trade  with 
the  northern  maritime  provinces,  and  how  extensive  such 
a  trade  would  probably  become,  some  conclusive  evidence 
is  given  below.* 

*  The  Dutch  ambassador  and  his  suite,  on  their  return  from  Pekin  in 
1796,  passed  through  what  may  be  considered  the  richest  and  most  popu- 
lous provinces  of  China  ;  and  Van  der  Braam's  account  of  the  journey 
abounds  with  information  on  the  state  of  the  maritime  district  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  great  Blue  River,  or  Yang-tse  Kiang,  which  rises  in  the 
mountains  of  Thibet  and  traverses  the  Chinese  provinces  of  Setchuen, 
Konquang,  and  Kiang-man  ;  ami  falls  into  the  sea  at  no  great  distance 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Hoang-Ho  or  Yellow  River,  the  second  river  of 
China,  and  indeed  of  Asia.  Van  der  Braam,  one  of  the  most  phlegmatic 
of  Dutchmen,  described  what  he  saw  at  the  moment  of  seeing  it,  and  with- 
out the  least  appearance  of  exaggeration  :  yet  his  journal,  in  that  part  of  it 
which  relates  to  the  temperate  maritime  provinces,  becomes  a  mere  cata- 
logue of  villages,  towns,  cities,  canals,  aqueducts,  bridges,  and  other  signs 
of  a  dense,  industrious,  and  wealthy  population.  Has  the  East  India 
Company  any  trade  with  this  part  of  China  !  No  direct  trade  whatever, 
and  if  some  little  indirect  trade  by  means  of  internal  carriage,  still  almost 
without  being  conscious  of  it.  Considering  that  this  is  the  heart  of  the 
Chinese  Empire,  that  the  climate  requires  woollen  cloths,  which  area  sta- 
ple production  of  England,  and  that  the  entrances  of  two  wide  rivers  would 
afford  great  facilities  for  conducting  the  unauthorised  trade,  this,  beyond  all 
comparison,  appears  to  be  the  spot  where  the  trading  disposition  of  the 
Chinese  people  ought  to  be  cultivated. 

"Can  you,"  Mr.  Marjoribanks  is  asked,  "  say  whether  the  demand  for 
English  woollen  manufactures  in  China  is  capable  of  being  increased  accord- 
ing to  the  increased  supply  !"  and  he  answers — "  I  imagine  that,  if  our 
manufactures  could  be  introduced  into  the  northern  provinces  of  the  empire, 
the  demand  for  them  would  decidedly  increase." — "  Are  there  any  insuper- 
able obstacles  to  the  introduction  of  our  woollens  into  the  northern 
parts  of  China  !  The  ports  ol  China  being  hermetically  sealed  against  us 
for  many  years  !" -  —  "  What  do  \.  ■  > 1 1  consider  the  impediments  to  a  greater 
extension  of  trade  '  The  limits  which  the  Chinese  have  set  to  the  foreign 
trade  ;  ilwir  confining  it  t<>  one  r<  mote  corner  of  one  of  the  southern  prov- 
inces of  the  empin  .  The  articles  which  we  import  into  China  are  carried 
to  the  northern  provinces  through  the  interior  of  the  country." 

"  The  black  tea  imported  by  the  Easl  India  Company  is  grown  and  man- 
red  in  the  province  of  Pokien,  with  the  exception  ol  about  one-third 
of  thai  sort  called  by  ih  Bohea,  which  third  part  is  produced  in  the  north- 
i  corner  of  the  province  of  Canton,  The  green  tea  is  all  grown  in 
the  provinces  ol  Kiang  nan,  Kiang-si,  and  Che-kiang,  but  chiefly  in  the  two 
former." 

Mr.  Daviee,  like  Mr.  Marjoribanks,  a  servant  of  the  Company,  and  of 
course  a  friend  to  the  monopoly,  says  u  the  tea  trade  would  be  more  bene- 
ficial, because.  I  conccivud  it  wuuld  be  larger,  if  it  were  n  oar  to  tho  centre  ol 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  185 

One  word  touching  the  cost  of  establishing  the  most 
free,  and  perhaps  most  extensive  trade  in  the  world.  The 
reckless  jobbing  of  those  who  managed  the  old  English 
constitution  has",  together  with  the  uneasiness  arising  from 
low  profits,  led  to  such  a  passion  for  retrenchment,  that  the 
new  English  government  will  probably  be  denied  funds  for 
many  a  useful  purpose.  But,  in  this  case,  no  public  funds 
are  required.  The  harbour  dues  of  Sincapore  (which  is 
little  more  than  a  stopping-place  for  English  ships)  the 
mere  harbour  dues  of  that  ill-chosen  and  merely  English 
port,  are  sufficient  to  defray  the  expense  of  maintaining  it. 
The  trade  of  a  well-chosen  market-place  on  the  coast  of 
China,  open  to  all  nations  on  equal  terms,  must  produce, 
from  moderate  harbour  dues  alone,  more  than  enough  to 
cover  the  cost  of  establishing  and  preserving  it ;  supposing 
the  work  performed  in  the  American  fashion,  with  a  view 
to  utility,  not  in  the  old  English  fashion,  with  a  view  to 
robbing  the  public.  Besides,  referring  to  the  preceding 
remarks  on  the  causes  of  the  value  of  land,  to  the  value  of 
land  at  Sincapore,  Penang,  and  Batavia  ;  a  value  produced 
mainly  by  the  competition  of  Chiuese  settlers;  and  bearing 
in  mind  that  as  many  Chinese  as  could  find  room  would 
settle  in  a  free  market-place  near  the  coast  of  China,  it 
would  seem  that  great  profits  might  be  made  by  an  outlay 
of  capital  in  the  way  proposed.  The  English  are  puzzled 
to  find  investments  for  their  capital.  But  iftheir  expiring 
Hong  should  for  the  present  forbid  them  to  lay  out  money 
in  this  way,  why  do  rot  they  lend  money  to  the  Americans  ? 
and  who  was  it  that  lately  negotiated  a  loan  between  Eng- 
lish capitalists  and  the  city  of  New-Orleans  ?  it  was  Joshua 
Bates,  himself  an  American,  chief  of  the  first  commer- 
cial firm  in  England,  deeply  engaged  in  American  trade, 

the  empire  ;  that  very  great  accession  to  the  prices  of  tea  which  arises  from 
the  long  land-carriage  would  be  avoided,  if  the  trade  were  nearer  to  the  tea 
provinces.  *  *  *  * 

"With  all  that  has  been  done,  the  facilities"  (of  internal  carriage)  "  are 
in  a  very  inferior  slate  to  what  they  plight  be.  The  river  which  brings  the 
tea  to  Canton  from  the  frontier  of  t lie  province,  where  it  has  to  cross  a  high 
mountain,  is  a  mere  trout-stream  for  a  great  portion  of  the  way  ;  and  foreign- 
ers of  all  descriptions  have  been  obliged  to  wait  for  months  at  Canton,  on 
account  of  there  not  being  enough  water  in  that  river  to  float  the  vessels 
that  bring  the  teas." 

On  this  head,  more  evidence  of  a  conclusive  nature  might  be  brought  for- 
ward ;  but  what  ha  -  been  given  will  satisfy  most  readers.  Those  who  wish 
lor  further  information  on  the  subject,  will  find  it  in  Van  der  Braam's  work 
in  the  accounts  of  Lord  Macartney's  and  Lord  Amherst's  embassies,  in 
Captain  Hall's  account  of  Loo  Cboo,  and  in  the  Parliamentary  Reports. 

24 


186       MEANS  OF  EXTENDING  FREE  TRADE 

and  intimately  acquainted  with  the  trade  of  China.  An 
Anglo-American  company  could  not,  indeed,  make  money, 
by  extending  free  trade  to  the  whole  coast  of  China,  with- 
out the  sanction  of  some  government,  without  a  flag  and  a 
charter.  Penn,  who  made  money  even  by  planting  a  colony 
on  the  desert  coast  of  America,  had  a  charter  from  his 
government,  but  beyond  that  piece  of  parchment,  no  assist- 
ance. The  present  English  ministers  would  not  grant  a 
charter  for  the  purpose  in  question,  which  they  would  dis- 
like as  a  dangerous  example  of  cheapness,  without  patron- 
age, in  the  management  of  great  public  undertakings.  They 
would  prefer  a  costly  embassy  to  Pekin.  Lord  Amherst's 
pocket-money,  forming  part  of  the  great  sum  expended  on 
the  last  embassy,  was  40,000/.  ;  more  than  six  times  the 
yearly  pay  of  his  American  majesty.  The  English  minis- 
ters, then,  would  spurn  at  a  proposal  for  effecting  a  public 
object  with  private  funds;  that  is,  carefully,  cheaply,  with- 
out patronage,  as  they  lately  refused  a  charter  to  some  of 
the  best  men  in  England,  who  wished  to  employ  private 
funds  in  founding  a  Pennsylvania  on  the  south  coast  of 
New  Holland.  But  their  time  is  nearly  up  ;  all  the  use- 
fulness that  was  in  them  having  been  got  out  of  them. 
Meanwhile,  before  their  successors  shall  be  named  by  the 
new  ruling  order,  striped  bunting  would  do  as  well  as  the 
union  jack  ;  and  an  Anglo-American  company  willing  to 
speculate  on  the  establishment  of  market-places  for  free 
teade  with  the  Chinese,  would  not  be  rebuffed  at  Wash- 
ington. 

At  Washington,  New-York,  Boston,  Baltimore,  or  Phila- 
delphia, what  follows  may  be  read  with  interest. 

Questions  submitted  to  Mr.  Ahn,'  with  his  answers.' 

1.  What  have  been  your  means  of  becoming  acquainted 
with  the  foreign  trade  of  China  ? — I  commanded  the  ship 
Exmouth.of  725  tons, from  Calcutta,  and  visited  China  under 
a  license  from  the  East  India  Company  in  1817,  and  spent 
four  months  in  the  Canton  river.  In  the  following  year  I 
again  visited  China  in  the  same  ship,  and  again  spent  four 
months  in  the  Canton  river.  In  1811)  I  made  a  similar 
voyage.     On  all   these   occasions  the   whole  of  a  mixed 

*  Mr.  Akon  resides  in  London.  Groat,  part  ofbia  lift  lias  boon  spent  nt 
sen  :  there  are  but  fftW  cn:ists  in  the  world  thai  lie  lias  not  visited  ;  and  bis 
character  an  a  navijraior  is  established  by  the  work  of  t'.ipiain  Flinders,  who 
appointed  him  maator  of  ihc  Invest igtfrbr  dUcr/rcty  ship. 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  187 

cargo,  worth  as  much  as  60,000/.,  was  consigned  to  myself; 
and  I  had  the  entire  disposal  of  it,  as  well  as  the  charge  of 
reloading  the  ship,  acting  as  captain  and  supercargo. 

2.  What  do  you  conceive  would  be  the  effect  on  the  un- 
authorized trade,  of  establishing  insular  commercial  stations 
near  the  coast,  and  in  the  most  favourable  situations? — The 
effect  would  be,  that  the  Chinese  would  very  readily  enter 
into  all  your  views  of  trade.  Great  numbers  of  Chinese 
would  settle  themselves  in  such  stations,  in  order  to  conduct 
trade.  They  ivould  enter  heart  and  soul  into  the  spirit  of  a 
free  trade,  which  nothing  could  prevent  them  from  establish- 
ing. They  have  all  kinds  of  craft  along-shore,  the  junks 
being  from  20  to.  500  tons;  and  they  would  come  with  their 
vessels  to  the  commercial  stations,  bringing  with  them 
Chinese  products  to  be  exchanged  for  European  and  other 
products.  The  government  has  no  power  to  prevent  the 
people  from  trading  even  in  the  Canton  river,  and  could  not 
by  any  means  interfere  with  a  trade  carried  on  at  a  short 
distance  from  the  main.  My  opinion  of  establishing  such 
stations  for  trade  is,  that  it  would  be  most  advantageous, 
and  would  cause  a  very  great  increase  of  the  foreign  trade 
of  China  ;  but  it  would  destroy  the  trade  of  the  Hong 
merchants,  and  of  the  East  India  Company  also,  if  Eng- 
lishmen were  not  prevented  from  trading  at  the  stations. 

3.  What  in  your  opinion  are  the  most  proper  places  for 
such  stations  ?  on  this  point  be  so  good  as  to  furnish  any 
information  that  you  may  think  calculated  to  be  of  use. — 
On  account  of  the  unskilfulness  of  the  Chinese  as  sailors,  it 
would  be  advisable  to  have  more  than  one  station,  in  order 
to  keep  up  a  trade  with  a  great  extent  of  coast.  Suppose 
you  had  several  stations  ;  1  would  begin  with  one  island, 
called  Pulo  Condore,  in  latitude  about  8  deg.  North,  almost 
within  sight  of  the  coast  of  Cambodia  ;  which  island  was 
settled  by  the  English  130  years  ago;  but  they  were  cut 
off  by  the  Macassar  soldiers  whom  they  employed.  I  have 
been  close  to  this  island  and  all  round  it.  It  is  inhabited 
by  a  few  fishermen.  The  anchorage  and  shelter  are  good; 
and  I  was  assured  by  the  people  who  came  from  the  island 
to  my  ship,  that  there  was  plenty  of  good  water  there. 
The  next  situation  would  be  one  of  the  Great  Ladrones,  or 
Pirate  Isles,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Canton  river  ;  and  the 
best  of  these  islands  appears  to  me  to  be  Neong-kong-oa, 
where  there  is  good  anchorage  for  a  great  number  of  ships, 
and  plenty  of  water.  This  island,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
great  Lema  Channel,  used  to  be  inhabited  by  pirates  of  the 


188  MEANS    OF    EXTENDING    I'REE    TRADE 

most  ferocious  character.  The  Chinese  government  could 
not  prevent  a  settlement  from  being  formed  there,  nor  in- 
terfere with  the  settlers  afterward.  Another  place  for  a 
station,  at  which  a  great  trade  would  soon  spring  up,  is  one 
of  the  numerous  islands  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Amoy,  in 
latitude  24  deg.  North.  I  have  not  visited  this  part  of  the 
coast ;  but  from  such  charts  as  we  have,  and  what  I  have 
heard  from  those  who  have  sailed  further  north  than  Canton, 
I  have  not  any  doubt  that  several  islands,  well  suited  for 
the  purpose,  would  be  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Amoy. 
The  most  important  place  for  a  station  is  still  further  north, 
near  the  mouths  of  the  great  rivers  ;  but  of  this  part  of  the 
coast  I  know  only  that  it  has  many  islands  ;  as  may  be  said 
of  the  whole  coast  of  China,  which  is  more  studded  with 
islands  than  any  other  coast  in  the  world. 

"  Cette  ile  (Formosa),  quoique  situee  vis  a  vis  fa  province 
de  Fokien,  et  a  trente  lieues  de  la  cote,-  n'etait  pas  soumise 
h.  l'empire  de  la  Chine,  qui  n'a  point  la  passion  des  conquetes, 
et  qui  par  une  politique  inhumaine  et  mal  cntendue,  aime 
mieux  laisser  perir  une  partie  de  sa  population  que  d'envoyer 
la  surabondance  de  ses  sujets  dans  des  tcrrcs  voisines.  Ou 
trouva  que  Formose  avait  cent  trente  ou  cent  quarante 
lieues  de  tour.  Ses  habitans  a,  en  juger  par  leurs  moeurs 
et  par  leur  figure,  paraissaient  descend  us  des  Tartares  de 
la  partie  la  plus  septentrionale  de  l'Asie.  Vraisemblable- 
ment  la  Coree  leur  avait  servi  de  chemin.  lis  vivaient,  la 
plupart,  de  pcche  ou  de  chasse  et  allaient  presque  nus. 
Les  Hollandais,  apres  avoir  pris  sans  obstacle  toutes  les 
lumieres  que  la  prudence  exigent,  jugerent  que  lc  lieu  le 
plus  favorable  pour  un  etablissement  etoit  une  petite  tie 
voisine  de  la  grandc.  lis  trouvahnt  dans  cette  situation 
trois  avantages  considerables  ;  une  defense  aisee,  si  la 
haine  ou  la  jalousie  cherchaient  a  les  troubler;  un  port 
forme  par  les  deux  ilea  ;  la  facility  d'avoir  dans  loutes  les 
moussons  une  communication  sun  avec  In  Chine.  La  nou- 
velle  colonic  se  fortifiait  insensiblemenl  sans  eclat,  lorsqu'elle 

s'r/ri  (i    ton/  i/'iiii  con/)  ,i  ii in  pTOSpt  rili   </ui  </oiniu  tOUtt  /'  Asir. 

Ce  fut  a  la  conqui  te  d<;  La  China  par  les  Tartares  (ju'elle 
dut  ce  foonheur  inespere  :  aiasi  les  torrens  engraissent  les 
vallons  de  la  substance  des  montagnes  ravagees.  Plus  de 
cent  mille  Chinois,  qui  ne  voulaienl  pas  y  soumettre  ;iu 
rainqueur,  Be  refugierenl  ;i  Formose.  lis  y  porterent  l'acti- 
vit«''  qui  leur  est  particuli  re,  la  culture  du  riz  el  du  Buere, 
ct  v  dttirn-f  ni  rhs  uaisseauti  tana  nombre  de  Li<r  notion. 


TO    THE    WHOLE    COAST    OF    CHINA.  189 

Bientot  Vile  devint  le  centre  de  loutes  les  liaisons  que  Java, 
Siam,  les  Philippines,  la  Chine,  le  Japan,  et  d\iutres  contrees 
vou la-rent  former.     En  peu  d'annees  eue  se  trouva  le 

PLUS    GRAND    MARCIlfc    HE    l'InDE."* 

*  The  Abbe"  Raynal's  Philosophical  and  Political  History  of  the  Establish- 
ments and  Commerce  of  Europeans  in  the  two  Indies.  Vol.  i.  p.  286. 
Paris  Edition  of  Amable  Costes  &  Co. 


(  100  ) 


NOTE  IX. 

SOME    SOCIAL    PECULIARITIES    OF    THE    AMERICANS. 

Peculiar  state  of  religion — Causes  of  superstition  without  bigotry  or  fanati- 
cism— Inquisitiveness — Rudeness  of  the  backwoodsmen— Bigotry  in  pa- 
triotism— Neglect  of  learning. 

Most  English  travellers  in  America  hurt  their  credit  for 
veracity  by  describing  instances  of  the  most  violent  religious 
phrensy.  In  England,  many  people  do  not  believe  Mrs. 
Trollope's  story  of  the  "  anxious  benches :"  I  do,  not 
doubting  either,  but  satisfied,  that  throughout  the  less  popu- 
lous parts  of  the  Union  people  often  meet  for  the  express 
purpose  of  working  themselves  into  a  state  of  superstitious 
madness.  To  overrate  the  crazy  doings  of  a  camp-meeting 
in  the  back  woods  would  be  impossible.  Bodies  writhing, 
arms  swinging,  legs  dancing,  eyes  rolling  ;  groans,  shouts, 
howls,  and  shrieks  ;  men  knocking  their  own  heads  against 
trees,  and  women  tearing  the  clothes  off  each  other's  backs  ; 
the  congregation  frantic  with  fear  of  the  devil,  and  the 
preacher  drunk  with  his  own  gibberish  ;  it  is  all  true,  and 
of  common  occurrence.  Captain  Hall  would  say,  it  arises 
from  the  wTant  of  a  spending  class  to  set  an  example  of 
decorum  in  public  worship;  or  from  the  want  of  loyalty, 
to  which  he  attributes  so  many  of  Jonathan's  peculiarities. 
Mrs.  Trollope  would  have  the  English  believe,  that  super- 
stition in  America  is  owing  to  democratic  government. 
Some,  again,  find  a  cause  for  it  in  ihe  want  of  a  state  re- 
ligion ;  adopting  the  notion  of  David  Hume,  and  supposing 
that  "each  ghostly  practitioner,  depending  for  subsistence  on 
the  liberality  of  individuals,  continually  endeavours  by  some 
novelty  to  excite  the  languid  devotion  of  his  audience, 
without  regard  to  truth,  morals,  or  decency  in  the  doctrines 


PECULIARITIES    OF    THE    AMERICANS.  191 

inculcated  ;  and  that  thus  every  tenet  is  adopted  that  best 
suits  the  disorderly  affections  of  the  human  frame,  custom- 
ers being  drawn  to  each  conventicle  by  new  industry  and 
address  in  practising  on  the  passions  and  credulity  of  the 
populace."  Another  set  of  Englishmen,  who,  in  their  ab- 
stract love  of  democracy,  cannot  bear  to  be  told  that  some 
things  in  America  might  be  mended  ;  haters  of  church 
establishments,  too,  who  therefore  disagree  with  David 
Hume ;  these,  when  asked  to  account  for  the  excesses  of 
love  feasts  and  camp  meetings,  lay  all  the  blame  on  the 
oppressors  of  those  puritans  who  colonized  New-England, 
concluding  that  the  fanaticism  which  arose  from  persecution 
has  been  handed  down  to  living  Americans  and  spread  over 
the  Union  by  emigration  from  the  New-England  states. 
The  doctrines  of  Mrs.  Trollope  and  Captain  Hall  are  not 
worth,  the  others  will  not  bear,  examination. 

Hume's  argument  in  favour  of  church  establishment  sup- 
poses the  existence  of  a  "  populace,"  liable  from  their  pro- 
found ignorance  to  be  deluded  by  needy  speculators  in  reli- 
gion. But  there  is  no  populace  in  America ;  and  those 
congregations,  whether  under  roofs  or  in  the  forest,  which 
most  resemble  the  inmates  of  a  madhouse  are  composed  of 
people  whose  knowledge  goes  beyond  reading  and  writing; 
shrewd,  worldly-minded,  calculating,  industrious  buyers 
and  sellers,  and  what  is  more,  politicians  represented  in  a 
local  parliament  and  in  congress,  who  make  the  laws  which 
they  have  to  obey;  laws  which,  measured  by  the  rule  of 
utility,  show  more  practical  wisdom  in  the  makers  than  the 
"greatest  statesmen"  of  Europe  can  pretend  to'.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  spirit  of  puritanism  is.  extinct  in  America. 
The  founders  of  New-England,  as  their  hot  zeal  arose  from 
persecution,  so  were  they,  always  excepting  the  Quakers, 
persecutors  in  their  turn,  more  cruel  than  the  oppressors 
from  whom  they  had  fled ;  and  far  more  bigoted,  since 
they  persecuted  as  they  had  suffered  for  religion's  sake, 
while  the  churchmen  who  had  hunted  them  out  of  England 
were  moved  by  a  spirit  altogether  worldly.  But  that  bitter, 
that  most  vindictive  religious  zeal,  which  dictated  the  first 
laws  of  the  New-England  colonies,  is  now  unknown  in 
America.  The  odium  theologicum  did  not  descend  to  the 
grandchildren  of  the  puritans.  Scenes  have  been  latelv 
acted  at  Exeter-Hall,  in  London,  exhibitions  of  furious  re- 
ligious bigotry,  such  as  it  would  be  impossible  to  get  up  in 
America ;  where  all  sects  are  tolerant,  and  not  one  takes 
half  so  much  pains  to  make  proselytes  as  several  sects  in 


192  SOME    SOCIAL    PECULIARITIES 

England.  Of  the  many  religions  that  flourish  in  America, 
one  only,  of  course,  can  be  true  ;  yet  is  there  no  one  sect 
which  zealously  declares  all  the  others  in  the  wrong.  In 
things  spiritual,  as  there  is  neither  favour  nor  persecution 
from  the  government,  so  bigotry  and  fanaticism,  in  the 
English  sense  of  those  words,  have  perished.  In  order  to 
describe  the  peculiar  state  of  religion  in  America,  one  must 
use  words  not  commonly  applied  to  the  subject. 

The  Americans,  speaking  generally,  are  religious  by 
habit,  but  not  constantly,  not  mixing  up  things  spiritual  with 
things  temporal ;  not  showing,  1  had  almost  said  not  feel- 
ing, religious  sentiments,  except  when  they  meet  for  public 
worship.  The  custom  of  attending  public  worship  is  almost 
universal ;  and  to  neglect  it  would  be  considered  indecent; 
but  so  completely  has  custom  taken  the  place  of  zeal  in  this 
matter,  that  what  form  of  worship  a  citizen  preiers  is  per- 
fectly indifferent  to  all  the  other  citizens,  like  the  colour  of 
his  coat.  Members  of  the  same  family,  even,  belong  to 
congregations  of  opposite  tenets,  without  the  slightest  inter- 
ruption of  domestic  peace.  Moreover,  avowed  deists,  who 
in  England  would  be  scouted  as  infidels,  are  as  much  re- 
spected as  the  most  devout  Christians,  provided  they  belong 
to  a  sect,  and  congregate  once  a  week  to  profess  their  lim- 
ited faith.  Lukewarmness,  indifference  this  would  be  called 
in  England,  and  has  been  called  by  English  writers;  but 
some  other  expression  must  be  found  for  it,  since  among  the 
most  tolerant  congregations  in  America  are  those  which 
occasionally  work  themselves  into  a  state  of  religious 
phrensy.* '  Sobriety  in  general,  with  occasional  fits  of  in- 
toxication, seems  a  more  correct  description  of  spiritual 
matters  in  America.  The  general  sobriety  is  explained  by 
a  total  separation  between  religion  and  politics;  but  this 
does  not  account  for  the  occasio mil  drunkenness.  Wbal  is 
the  cause  of  that  religious  phrensy  now  and  then  exhibited 
by  people,  whose  ordinary  religious  feelings  are  so  tolerant 
aiid  sober,  so  much  the  reverse  of  bigotry  and  fanaticism? 

The  terms  of  the  question  point  to  an  answer  which  ex- 
plains this  curious  moral  phenomenon.  Violent  occasional 
tmenl  of  the  mind  appears  to  be  a  physical  want  with 
those,  whose  ordinary  condition  either  does  not  require  or 
nts  much  mental  exertion.  None  take  such  delighl  in 
getting  drunk  with  spirits  as  the  savage  whose  monotonous 
lite  keeps  his  mental  faculties  in  a  state  of  torpor.  Rum  in 
America,  whiskey  in  Ireland,  gin  at  presenl  in  England, 
opium  in  Turkey  and  China,  and  tobacco  in  Spain,  are  BUD- 


OP   THE    AMERICANS.  193 

stitutes  for  moral  stimulants.  But  where  in  the  wide  world 
shall  be  found  any  considerable  number  of  people,  whose 
minds  are  not  actively  employed  by  their  common  pursuits, 
and  who  yet  forego  the  use  of  extraordinary  stimulants  ? 
Nowhere.  The  rule  is  universal,  including  those  savages, 
who  ibr  want  of  spirits,  drugs,  music,  shows,  romances,  and 
idols,  are  said  to  intoxicate  themselves  by  twirling  round 
till  they  fall.  The  kinds  of  mental  stimulants  which  it 
seems  in  man's  nature  to  require,  differ  with  the  infinite 
variety  of  men's  circumstances.  The  spirits  of  a  water- 
drinker  are  raised  by  one  glass  of  wine,  drank  without  com- 
pany; while  an  habitual  wine-drinker  is  not  elated  by  a 
dozen  glasses,  nor  by  two  dozen,  unless  there  be  others  to 
drink  with  him.  The  solitary  prisoner  is  exhilarated  by 
obtaining  a  single  companion,  drunk,  he  knows  not  why, 
when  he  returns  to  society ;  while  on  him  who  enjoys  social 
intercourse  every  day,  it  has  no  unusual  effect.  There 
would  be  no  end  of  examples  to  show  that  different  circum- 
stances or  states  of  mind  produce  a  craving  for  mental  stimu- 
lants very  different  in  kind  and  degree  ;  that  in  this  case,  as 
in  so  many  more,  what  is  one  man's  meat  is  another  man's 
poison. 

Now,  the  dispersed  inhabitants  of  America,  and  in  parti- 
cular of  those  new  settlements  where  love-feasts  and  camp- 
meetings  are  most  common,  pass  a  great  part  of  their  lives 
in  solitude  ;  not  in  absolute  solitude,  like  that  which,  when 
inflicted  as  a  punishment,  produces  death  or  insanity,  but 
out  of  the  way  of  social  intercourse,  each  family  being  iso- 
lated from  all  the  others,  except  on  rare  occasions,  when 
they  congregate  in  spite  of  distance  and  bad  roads.  The 
effect  on  the  mind  of  this  lonely  and  monotonous  existence, 
can  hardly  be  conceived  by  Englishmen  generally,  to  whom 
the  stillness  of  the  country  gives  fresh  and  pleasant  feelings. 
To  a  lone  American  family,  there  is  nothing  so  delightful 
as  one  of  those  occasions  when  many  families  meet  for  any 
purpose  ;  and  when  thousands  meet  for  a  religious  purpose, 
the  congregation,  excited  by  a  total  change  of  scene,  by  the 
unusual  confluence  of  numbers,  and  by  the  novelty  of  an 
impulse  common  to  many,  are  easily  intoxicated  by  elo- 
quence, of  which  the  object  is  to  inflame  their  already  heated 
imaginations.  The  preacher  may  or  may  not  be  as  sincere 
as  his  audience ;  but  in  either  case  he  is  not  to  be  blamed 
for  their  extravagance.  Instead  of  causing  the  phrensy 
over  which  he  presides,  he  only  helps  to  gratify  a  desire, 
the  desire  for  some  violent  mental  excitement,  which  has 


194  SOME    SOCIAL   PECULIARITIES 

resulted  from  sameness  and  solitude.  A  wandering  preacher 
in  America  does  not  create,  but  only  supplies,  a  demand 
for  his  services  ;  visiting  thinly-peopled  districts,  not  with  a 
view  to  delude  the  scattered  inhabitants,  but  because  he 
knows  that  they  already  long  for  his  presence,  that  they  are 
wraiting  for  a  dose  of  superstitious  terror ;  and  that  if  he 
should  not  help  them  to  devil-worship,  they  would  send  for 
some  other  dealer  in  that,  to  them,  intoxicating  drug. 

It  has  been  remarked,  that  on  these  occasions  of  self- 
sought  delirium,  the  women  are  wilder  than  the  men.  And 
this  might  have  been  expected  ;  because  as  almost  every- 
where women  lead  a  more  lonely  and  monotonous  life  than 
men,  they  are  more  susceptible  of  excitement  from  novelty 
and  crowds.  They  are  so  especially  in  the  back-settle- 
ments of  America,  where  travelling,  if  not  dangerous,  re- 
quires energy  and  bodily  strength,  not  to  mention  how 
much  time.  In  such  spots,  men  pass  weeks  together  with- 
out exchanging  two  ideas  ;  women,  months,  or  even  years, 
without  forming  one.  If  the  men  did  not  attend  markets, 
fairs,  and  elections,  they  would  probably  be  as  wild  as  the 
women  at  love-feasts  and  camp-meetings.  The  peculiar 
extravagance  of  the  women,  on  such  occasions,  helps  to  ac- 
count for  the  extravagance  of  both  sexes  ;  and  this  view  of 
the  subject  is  confirmed  by  reflecting  that  they  who  com- 
pose the  wildest  congregations  of  America,  when  they  re- 
turn home  after  a  fit  of  superstitious  intoxication,  are  as 
diligent  as  ever  in  their  ordinary  pursuits,  more  contented 
than  before,  and,  touching  religion,  not  less  tolerant  and 
sober,  not  a  whit  less  different  from  English  bigots  and 
fanatics.* 

*  Mr.  Flint,  in  his  Geography  and  History  of  the  Western  Slates,  after 
showing  the  utility  of  camp-meetings,  writes — "  Nine-tenths  of  the  religious 
instruction  of  the  country  is  given  by  people  who  itinerate,  ami  who  are,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  s;iul  to  the  contrary, 
men  of.great  seal  and  sanctity.  These  earnest  men,  who  have  little  to  ex- 
pect from  pecuniary  support,  and  less  from  the  prescribed  reverence  and  in- 
fluence, which  can  only  appertain  to  a  Btated  ministry,  find  al  mice  that  every 
thing  depends  <>n  the  cultivation  of  popular  talents.  Zeal  for  the  great 
eauae,  mixed  imperceptibly  with  a  spice  of  earthlj  ambition,  and  the  latent 
emulation  and  j >ri< t< ■  of  out  nature,  and  other  motives  which  unconsciously 
inlliienei  more  or  less,  the  most  sincere  and  the  most  disinterested — the  de- 
sire of  distinction  among  their  contemporaries  and  their  brethren — and  a 
reaching  Btruggle  for  the  fascination  of  popularity,  goad  them  on  to  study 
all  the  means  and  arts  of  winning  the  people.  Travelling  from  month  to 
month  through  dark  forests,  with  such  ample  time  and  range  for  deep 
thought,  as  t  he v  a nd ile  slow l \  on  horseback  through  their  peregrinations,  the 
men  naturally  acquire  a  pensive  and  romantic  turn  of  thought  ami  expres- 
rion,  tucb  as  we  think  favourable  to  eloquence.    Hence  the  preaching  is  of  a 


OF   THE    AMERICANS.  1U5 

It  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  obstacles  to 
social  intercourse  are  confined  to  the  newest  settlements. 
When  the  states  were  colonies,  waste  land  was  usually 
given  away  by  their  governments,  often  in  vast  tracts  to 
persons  who  had  no  means  of  cultivating  them,  and  who, 
therefore,  either  left  the  land  in  a  desert  state,  or  disposed 
of  it  to  others  at  so  very  cheap  a  rate  that  individuals 
readily  obtained  more  land  than  they  could  possibly  culti- 
vate. In  either  case,  the  dispersion  of  the  people  was  very 
great ;  for  either  the  desert,  wanting  roads,  was  a  bar  to 
intercourse  among  the  people  who  surrounded  it,  or  each 
settler  fixed  on  it  was,  still  by  want  of  roads,  separated 
from  all  the  other  settlers.  But  since  the  government  of 
the  United  States  has,  generally,  instead  of  giving  away  new 
land,  sold  it  by  auction  to  the  highest  bidder  above  a  fixed 
minimum  price,  some  new  states,  which  offered  peculiar  at- 
tractions, have  been  more  densely  or  rather  less  thinly 
peopled  than  some  of  the  old  colonies,  and  far  better  pro- 
vided with  roads,  which  are  more  easily  made  in  propor- 
tion as  they  are  less  wanted,  that  is,  in  proportion  as  the 
people  are  less  dispersed.  Still,  above  two-thirds  of  the 
inhabitants  of  America  pass  the  greater  part  of  their  lives 
in  comparative  loneliness ;  in  a  state  which,  if  it  could  be 
imagined  by  hill  squires  in  Wales,  even  they  would  call  un- 
bearable solitude.  It  is  a  state  of  existence  not  readily 
imagined  by  any  Englishman,  quite  incomprehensible  by 
those  who  have  always  lived  in  towns ;  but  the  English- 
man, who  shall  conceive  what  it  is,  will  be  at  no  loss  to  ac- 
count for  many  American  habits  and  customs,  besides  that 
peculiar  kind  of  superstition  which  displeases  English 
travellers. 

The  officers  of  Captain  Parry's  second  voyage,  after 
being  cut  off  from  the  world  for  more  than  two  years,  landed 
on  one  of  the  Shetland  islands,  and  wrere  invited  to  dine 
with  a  party  of  the  inhabitants.  At  this  meeting,  I  have 
been  told,  questions  and  answers  formed  the  whole  conver- 
sation ;  the  voyagers,  though  craving  for  news,  being  obliged 
to  gratify  the  habitual  inquisitiveness  of  those  secluded 
islanders.  In  like  manner,  the  curiosity  of  Americans  is 
not  a  vulgar  trick,  nor,  as  some  will  have  it,  a  fruit  of  de- 
mocratic government,  but  a  result,  natural  and  inevitable, 
of  a  faulty  mode  of  colonization,  in  which  no  thought  was 

highly  popular  cast,  and  its  first  aim  is  to  excite  the  feelings.  Hence  too, 
excitements,  or  in  religious  parlr.nce,  *  awakenings,'  are  common  in  all  thi« 
region." — Quoted  by  Stuart,  vol.  ii.  p.  456. 


19G  SOME    SOCIAL    PECULIARITIES 

ever  taken  to  keep  a  due  proportion  between  people  and 
land.* 

The  American  of  the  backwoods  has  often  been  described  to 
the  English  as  grossly  ignorant,  dirty,  unsocial,  delighting  in 
rum  and  tobacco,  attached  to  nothing  but  his  rifle,  adventu- 
rous, restless,  more  than  half-savage.  Deprived  of  social  en- 
joyments or  excitements,  he  has  recourse  to  those  of  savage 
life,  and  becomes  (for  in  this  respect  the  Americans  degene- 
rate) unfit  for  society.  As  the  evils  of  society,  misery,  and 
vice  produced  by  misery,  are  unknown  in  America,  as  they 
would  have  been  quite  as  well  avoided  with  a  greater  con- 
centration of  the  people ;  as,  indeed,  the  produce  of  American 
industry  might  have  been  greater  if  the  people  had  been 
less  dispersed,  the  semi-barbarism  of  American  backwoods- 
men is  an  unnecessary  evil ;  and  an  evil,  too,  without  the 
least  countervailing  advantage  ;  but,  though  caused  without 
a  motive,  still  it  has  been  caused  by  all  the  governments 
which  have  disposed  of  new  land  in  America,  from  that  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  which  bestowed  twenty-five  millions  of 
acres  upon  an  individual,  to  that  of  President  Jackson, 
which  sells  new  land  at  the  very  low  price  of  five  shillings 
per  acre. 

Americans  are  accused  of  presumption,  conceit,  and 
gross  national  vanity.  Allowing  for  exceptions  in  the  more 
populous  parts  of  the  Union,  and  especially  in  the  great  sea- 
port towns,  the  people  of  America  may,  in  this  respect,  be 
likened  to  the  Tartar  conquerors  of  China,  who,  being 
themselves  barbarous,  consider  all  but  themselves  barba- 
rians. The  least  civilized  Americans,  those  in  a  word  who 
despise  the  old  country,  make  up,  like  the  Chinese  manda- 
rins, for  want  of  bigotry  in  religion,  by  excessive  bigotry 
in  their  patriotism.  Some  Creoles  of  Now  South  Wales 
visiting  England,  thought  London  a  miserable  place  when 
compared  with  Sydney.  The  settlers  of  Now  South 
Wales  and  Van  Dieman's  Land,  adjoining  colonics,  planted 
by  the  same  people,  in  the  same  way,  and  nearly  at  the 
same  time,  cannot  hear,  if  we  may  judge  l>\  their  .books 
and  newspapers,  any  comparison  between  the  two  very 
similar  sheep-walks,  which  does  not  represent  one  as  greatly 
superior  to   the    other,  according  to  which  set  of  colonists 

'  "I  found  them  very  inquisitive ;  far  more  bo  than  Bny  of  the  New« 
Englanders  I  have  ever  mel  with;  but  [afterward  learned  that  these  people 
had  lately  come  from  a  remote  pail  <>f  the  country,  whore,  probably,  (lure 
were  no  schooll  "—  Stuart,  vol.  it-  [••  846 


OF   THE   AMERICANS.  197 

may  bo  addressed.  Nearly  all  colonists,  it  is  remarked,  or 
at  least  nearly  all  people  born  in  dispersed  colonies,  are  fan- 
atically proud  of  their  own  wild  country,  and  love  to  dis- 
parage the  rest  of  the  world.  This  narrowness  of  mind, 
arising  from  ignorance,  seems  proper  to  the  barbarous  con- 
querors of  China;  but,  in  colonies  planted  by  the  most 
civilized  nations,  it  is  a  degenerate  sentiment,  a  step  back- 
wards from  civilization  to  barbarism,  and  out  of  the  course 
of  nature,  which  seems  favourable,  stoppages  reckoned,  to 
the  improvement  of  mankind.  In  such  cases,  the  ignorance 
which  "promotes  conceit  and  mean  pride,  is  a  result  of  dis- 
persion ;  the  original  cause  of  it  in  America  being  not  de- 
mocracy, Captain  Hall,  but  the  low  price  of  new  land. 

But  the  Captain  Halls  of  England,  when  they  contend 
that  democracy  produces  neglect  of  learning  in  America, 
make  out  a  case  which  has  some  show  of  truth.  The 
memory  of  Franklin,  say  they,  honoured  in  Europe,  is  des- 
pised in  America,  save  by  a  few  whose  eccentricity  goes 
to  prove  the  rule.  Subject  colonies  produced  scholars  and 
philosophers :  the  democratic  Union  depends  on  England 
for  literature,  or  rather  for  a  supply  of  novels,  the  only 
books  suited  to  the  American  market.  In  all  the  United 
States,  there  is  not  an  observatory  ;  Copley  and  West  could 
not  live  in  America  ;  Cooper  and  Irving  publish  in  Europe. 
Among  nations  called  civilized,  the  Americans  are  the  most 
neglectful  of  fine  arts,  science,  and  philosophy ;  and  in 
America  the  cultivation  of  learning  has  fallen  off  with  the 
progress  of  democracy.  Therefore,  in  America,  democracy 
is  unfavourable  to  the  cultivation  of  learning. 

This  statement  of  facts  is  true  ;*  and  the  conclusion  ap- 
pears true  to  many  in  England,  because  English  travellers 
in  the  United  States  have  carefully  shut  their  eyes  to  a 
circumstance  by  which  they  might  have  accounted  for 
most  of  the  social  peculiarities  of  America.  Democracy, 
that  is,  political  equality,  which  lays  open  to  all  alike  every 


*  "  Men  of  science,  too,  and  of  literature,  not  a  small  body  in  England, 
will  rind  but  few  persons  in  the  United  States  not  engaged  in  professional 
business,  and  have  not,  in  that  country,  the  means  of  resorting  to  great 
public  libraries,  which'  they  find  in  England  indispensable  for  their  pur- 
suits. They  find  but  few  people  disposal  to  sympathize  with  them  i?i  the  ob- 
jects which  interest  them.  The  United  States  do  not  otter  a  desirable  asy- 
lum for  persons  of  this  description,  even  if  they  are  in  straitened  circum- 
stances. It  will  be  much  more  for  their  happiness  to  contract  their  style 
of  living  in  England  than  to  make  a  voyage  to  America." — Stuart,  vol.  ii. 
1*27. 


198  SOME    SOCIAL    PECULIARITIES 

career  of  ambition,  and  makes  usefulness  the  standard  of 
merit,  must  surely  be  very  favourable  to  the  cultivation  of 
learning ;  more  especially  when  accompanied,  as  it  is  in 
the  United  States,  by  universal  ease,  which  bestows  lei- 
sure upon  all.  The  Americans  are  the  only  people  in  the 
world  blessed  with  leisure  and  equality.  If  political  equal- 
ity should  be  established  in  England,  together  with  high 
profits  and  wages,  who  can  doubt  that  the  English  would 
advance  rapidly  in  every  department  of  knowledge.  Why 
then  have  the  Americans  degenerated  in  this  respect?  why 
do  they  set  a  lower  value  on  knowledge  than  the  colonists 
of  Franklin's  time  ? 

"  Though,"  says  Adam  Smith,  "  in  a  rude  state  of  society 
there  is  a  good  deal  of  variety  in  the  occupations  of  every 
individual,  there  is  not  a  great  deal  in  those  of  the  whole 
society.  Every  man  does  or  is  capable  of  doing  almost  every 
thing  which  any  other  man  does  or  is  capable  of  doing. 
Every  man  has  a  considerable  degree  of  knowledge,  ingenu- 
ity, and  invention,  but  scarce  any  man  has  a  great  degree. 
The  degree,  however  which  is  commonly  possessed,  is  gen- 
erally sufficient  for  conducting  the  whole  simple  business  of 
society.  In  a  civilized  state,  on  the  contrary,  though  there  is 
little  variety  in  the  occupations  of  the  greater  part  of  individ- 
uals, there  is  an  almost  infinite  variety  in  those  of  the  whole 
society.  These  varied  occupations  present  an  almost  infi- 
nite variety  of  objects  to  the  contemplation  of  those  few, 
who,  being  attached  to  no  particular  occupation  themselves, 
have  leisure  and  inclination  to  examine  the  occupations 
of  other  people.  The  contemplation  of  so  great  a  variety 
of  objects  necessarily  exercises  their  minds  in  endless  com- 
parisons and  combinations,  and  renders  their  understandings 
in  an  extraordinary  degree  both  acute  and  comprehensive." 
But  rudeness  and  civilization  are  effects  as  well  as  causes. 
By  going  further  back,  by  substituting  dispersed  for  rude, 
and  concentrated  for  civilized,  \\  arer,  al  least,  to  the 

truth.  In  the  history  of  the  world,  there  is  no  example  of 
a  society  at  once  dispersed  and  highly  civilized;  while 
there  are  instances  without  end,  in  the  history  of  coloniza- 
tion, of  societies  which,  ivilizedj  became  barbarous 
as  soon  as  they  were  dispersed  over  an  extensh  e  territory. 
Thai  division  of  each  man's  labour  among  several  employ- 
ments, which,  says  Adam  Smith,  is  the  immediate  cau 
ignorance,  is  an  effect  of  dispersion  ;  and  dispersion  inter- 
feres with  the  cultivation  of  knov  '    :         another  way  ;  that 


OF    THE    AMERICANS.  190 

is,  by  obstacles  to  social  intercourse,  to  the  interchange  of 
ideas,  to  the  exercise  of  the  mental  faculties.     By  adding 
to  this  consideration  one  fact,  the  difficulty  may  be  solved. 
The  citizens  of  the  United  States  are  a  more  dispersed 
society  than  the  colonists  of  Franklin's  time.     When  Jef- 
ferson wrote  the  declaration  of  independence,  the  vast  re- 
gions west  of  the  Allcghanies  had  scarcely  been  opened  for 
settlement.     Washington  became  a  soldier  in  contests  with 
the  Indians  on  the  western  frontier  of  Virginia,  which  is 
now  the  eastern  frontier  of  states  more  extensive  than  the 
dependent  colonies.     Even  if  the  increase  of  people  had 
been  equal  to  the  acquisition  of  land,  still  the  dispersion 
would  have  been  greater,  because  the  interior  settlements 
are,  by  reason  of  their  great  distance  from  the  sea,  more 
deficient  in  natural  means  of  communication.     Washing- 
ton often  foretold  some  of  the  evils  that  would  result  from 
spreading  towards  the  west,  unless  the  eastern  and  west- 
ern states  were  connected  by  canals  and  good  roads.     His 
warning   was    neglected  until    lately,   when   the    eastern 
states  became  alarmed  at  the  amount  of  emigration  to  the 
west.     In  those  eastern  states,  the  dependent  colonies  that 
were,  they  talk  now   of  Washington's  inspiration,  and  are 
most  anxious  to  establish  means   of  intercourse  with  the 
western  settlements  :  they  will  find  it  difficult  to  remedy 
their  own  error.     The  western  wilderness  was  theirs,  and 
liable  to  be  treated  in  the  way  most  for  their  advantage. 
They  thought  only  of  gratifying  their  national  vanity,  by 
extending  as  much  as  possible  the  surface  of  the  Union. 
j\ot  content  with  promoting   emigration  to  the  wilderness, 
when  their  own  population  was  so  scanty  that  they  ought 
rather  to  have  encouraged  immigration  from  Europe,  they 
sent  to  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  more  wilder- 
ness, and  in  one  case  actually  paid  hard  money  for  an  ac- 
cession of  mischief.*     The   result  is,  that  population  has 
spread,  not  merely  as  fast  as  it  has  increased,  but  faster  ; 
that  there  are  fewer  people  to  the   square  mile  than  when 
population  was  about  a  quarter  of  its  present  amount ;  and 
that  this  smaller  number  of  people  in  proportion  to  land, 
besides  being   separated  from  each  other  by  greater  dis- 

*  "  The  acquisition  by  the  United  States  in  1803,  of  the  territories  be- 
longing to  France  in  North  America,  including  New  Orleans,  Louisiana, 
and  the  Mississippi,  was  a  most  important  one.  The  negotiations  resulted 
in  the  cession  of  the  French  territory  in  North  America,  exceeding  in  extent 
the  whole  land  then  belonging  to  the  United  Stales,  for  sixty  millions  of 
francs."—  Stuart,  vol.  ii.  p. ' 


200  SOME    SOCIAL    PECULIARITIES,    &C. 

tance,  are  not  so  well  provided  with  the  means  of  social 
intercourse.  Where  there  are  markets,  there  the  people 
live  together;  but  these  are  few  and  far  between.  When 
the  Americans  would  probably  have  been  without  markets, 
and  to  what  they  are  indebted  for  the  existence  of  markets, 
is  shown  in  the  following  notes. 


(201  ) 


NOTE  X. 

ORIGIN,    PROGRESS,    AND    PROSPECTS    OF    SLAVERY    IN 
AMERICA. 

Declamation  against  slavery — History  of  the  origin  and  progress  of  slavery 
in  America — Cause  of  slavery — Prospects  of  slavery  in  the  British  West 
Indies — In  the  United  Slates — Possible  means  of  abolishing  slavery  in 

;    the  United  States  without  a  servile  war. 

"  The  existence  of  slavery,"  says  Mr.  Stuart,*  "  in  its 
most  hideous  form,  in  a  country  of  absolute  freedom  in  most 
respects,  is  one  of  those  extraordinary  anomalies  for  which 
it  is  impossible  to  account." 

The  writer  of  the  declaration  of  American  independence 
has  also  written — "  What  an  incomprehensible  machine  is 
man  !  who  can  endure  toil,  famine,  stripes,  imprisonment, 
and  death  itself,  in  vindication  of  his  own  liberty,  and  the 
next  moment  be  deaf  to  all  those  motives  whose  power 
supported  him  through  his  trial,  and  inflict  on  his  fellow-men 
a  bondage,  one  hour  of  which  is  fraught  with  more  misery 
than  ages  of  that  which  he  rose  in  rebellion  to  oppose.  But 
we  must  wait  with  patience  the  workings  of  an  overruling 
Providence,  and  hope  that  that  is  preparing  the  deliverance 
of  these  our  suffering  brethren.  When  the  measure  of  their 
tears  shall  be  full — when  their  tears  shall  have  involved 
heaven  itself  in  darkness — doubtless  a  God  of  justice  will 
awaken  to  their  distress,  and,  by  diffusing  a  light  and  liber- 
ality among  their  oppressors,  or,  at  length,  by  his  extermi- 
nating thunder,  manifest  his  attention  to  things  of  this  world, 
and  that  they  are  not  left  to  the  guidance  of  blind  fatality." 

"  Every  American,"  says  an  English  writer,* — "  every 
American  who  loves  his  country  should  dedicate  his  whole 
life,  and  every  faculty  of  his  soul,  to  efface  the  foul  blot  of 
slavery  from  its  character.  If  nations  rank  according  to 
their  wisdom  and  their  virtue,  what  right  has  the  American, 
a  scourger  and  murderer  of  slaves,  to  compare  himself  with 
the  least  and  lowest  of  the  European  nations,  much  more 

*  Vol.  ii.  page  113. 

t  Edinburgh  Review,  Xo.  LXI.  Art.  "  Travellers  in  America"  attributed 
to  Mr.  (now  Lord)  Brougham. 

26 


202  ORIGIN,    PROGRESS,    AND    PROSPECTS 

with  this  great  and  humane  country,  where  the  greatest  lord 
dare  not  lay  a  finger  on  the  meanest  peasant  ?  What  is 
freedom  where  all  are  not  free  ?  where  the  greatest  of  God's 
blessings  is  limited,  with  impious  caprice,  to  the  colour  of 
the  body  ?  And  these  are  the  men  who  taunt  the  English 
with  their  corrupt  parliament,  with  their  buying  and  selling 
votes.  Let  the  world  judge  which  is  the  most  liable  to  cen- 
sure— we,  who  in  the  midst  of  rottenness,  have  torn  the 
manacles  off  slaves  all  over  the  world,  or  they  who,  with 
their  idle  purity  and  useless  perfection,  have  remained  mute 
and  careless  while  groans  echoed  and  whips  clanked  round 
the  very  walls  of  their  spotless  congress.  We  wish  well  to 
America — we  rejoice  in  her  prosperity — and  are  delighted 
to  resist  the  absurd  impertinence  with  which  the  character 
of  her  people  is  often  treated  in  this  country.  But  the  ex- 
istence of  slavery  in  America  is  an  atrocious  crime,  with 
which  no  measures  can  be  kept — for  which  her  situation 
affords  no  sort  of  apology — which  makes  liberty  itself  dis- 
trusted, and  the  boast  of  it  disgusting." 

These  passages  describe  the  feeling  of  Englishmen  gen- 
erally, and  of  not  a  few  Americans,  with  respect  to  slavery 
in  America.  But  when  was  any  great  evil  cured  by  mere 
declamation  ?  and  what  but  mere  declamation  is  there  in 
these  passages?  Like  other  evils,  slavery  in  America  has  its 
causes  ;  and  until  these  be  removed,  the  evil  effect  must  con- 
tinue. No  Englishman,  no  American,  as  far  as  I  know,  has 
taken  the  trouble  to  ascertain  the  causes  of  slavery  in  Amer- 
ica. Had  this  been  done,  it  might  perhaps  appear,  that  the 
situation  of  America  docs  afford  some  sort  of  apology  for  the 
foul  slain  upon  her  character.  The  causes  of  slavery  in 
America  will  be  found  in  a  brief  history  of  its  origin  and 
progress  ;  and,  these  ascertained,  the  prospects  of  slavery 
may  be  examined  with  some  chance  of  a  useful  result. 

The  first  European  colony  in  America  was  planted  by 
Spaniards  in  the  island  of  St.  Domingo,  or,  as  it  was  origi- 
nally called,  Hispaniola.  The  first  Spanish  colonists  of  St. 
Domingo  received  from  the  Spanish  crown  extensive  grants 
of  the  mosl  fertile  land.  The  settlers  carried  with  them  an 
abundance  of  capital,  and  cadi  settler  obtained  more  good 
land  than  he  could  |»>s>i!>ly  cultivate.  But  land  and  capital 
arc  not  the  only  elements  of  production.  In  order  to  pro- 
duce wealth,  the  flrst  colonists  of  St.  Domingo  wanted  la- 

bourers.     If  s e  of  them  had  laid  out  a  portion  of  their 

capital  in  convej  ing  labourers  from  Spain,  the  other  settlers, 
who  had   not  -<>  expended  a  portion  of  their  capital,  would 


OF    SLAVERY    IN    AMERICA.  203 

have  been  able  to  pay  for  the  service  of  such  labourers  more 
than  those  could  have  paid  who  had  diminished  their  capi- 
tal by  conveying  labourers  from  Spain.  Those  who  had  not 
so  diminished  their  capital,  offering  higher  wages  than  those 
who  had,  would  have  enjoyed  what  the  former  had  expended 
capital  to  procure.  This  does  actually  occur  very  often  in 
modern  English  colonies.  Thus,  unless  all  the  settlers  had 
agreed  that  each  should  take  out  a  number  of  labourers  in 
proportion  to  his  capital,  none  of  them  could  have  had  any 
motive  for  laying  out  capital  in  that  way.  Moreover,  if  such 
an  agreement  had  been  possible,  and  its  execution  practica- 
ble, the  labourers  taken  out  by  the  capitalists,  to  a  place 
where  every  one  could  obtain  plenty  of  good  land  for  a 
trifle,  would  have  ceased  to  be  labourers  for  hire  ;  they 
would  have  become  independent  land-owners,  if  not  com- 
petitors with  their  former  masters  in  the  market  of  labour. 
This  also  does  actually  occur  every  day  in  several  modern 
colonies.  Consequently,  the  first  Spanish  settlers  in  St. 
Domingo  did  not  obtain  labourers  from  Spain.  But,  with- 
out labourers,  their  capital  must  have  perished,  or  at  least 
must  soon  have  been  diminished  to  that  small  amount  which 
each  individual  could  employ  with  his  own  hands.  This  has 
actually  occurred  in  the  last  colony  founded  by  Englishmen 
— the  Swan  River  settlement — where  a  great  mass  of  capi- 
tal, of  seeds,  implements,  and  cattle,  has  perished  for  want 
of  labourers  to  use  it ;  and  where  no  settler  has  preserved 
much  more  capital  than  he  can  employ  with  his  own  hands. 
The  first  settlers  in  St.  Domingo  remaining  without  labour- 
ers, their  only  prospect  was  a  solitary,  wild,  half-savage  ex- 
istence. Nay,  they  might  have  died  for  want.  Of  the  colo- 
nies planted  in  modern  times,  more  have  perished  than  have 
prospered.  Those  settlers  might  have  died  of  want,  be- 
cause their  own  labour,  not  being  combined  in  any  degree, 
but  being  cut  up  into  fractions  as  numerous  as  the  individuals, 
might  not  have  produced  enough  to  keep  them  alive.  In 
the  colonies  of  modern  times,  thousands  of  people  have  died 
from  this  cause,  and  some  in  the  last  colony  founded  by  Eng- 
land. Urged  by  this  want  of  labourers,  the  first  settlers  in 
St.  Domingo  persuaded  the  Spanish  government  to  include 
in  each  of  its  grants  of  land  a  proportionate  grant  of  natives. 
The  most  ancient  grants  of  land  in  Hispaniola  mention  the 
number  of  natives  which  each  grantee  was  authorized  to 
treat  as  cattle.     This  was  the  origin  of  slavery  in  America. 

The  colonists,  by  means  of  the  supply  of  labour  thus  ob- 
tained, readily  acquired  wealth  ;  for  they  could  now  employ 


204  ORIGIN,    PROGRESS,    AND    PROSPECTS 

many  hands  in  the  same  work,  at  the  same  time,  and  for  a 
long  period  of  time,  without  intermission.  Other  Spaniards, 
inflamed  by  the  accounts  which  reached  Spain  of  the  suc- 
cess of  the  first  colonists,  hurried  to  St.  Domingo,  and,  ob- 
taining grants  of  natives  as  well  as  land,  prospered  like  those 
who  had  gone  before  them.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years, 
the  prosperity  of  Hispaniola  excited,  as  that  of  the  United 
States  does  now,  the  envy  and  admiration  of  Europe.  But 
the  colonists,  regardless  of  the  fable,  killed  the  goose  for  its 
golden  eggs :  they  destroyed  the  feeble  natives  by  over- 
working them.  The  colony  had  hardly  reached  a  very  flour- 
ishing condition  when  the  source  of  its  prosperity  was  dried 
up.  In  this  emergency,  it  occurred  to  the  dejected  settlers 
that  the  neighbouring  islands  were  inhabited.  To  those 
islands  some  of  them  repaired,  and  seized  the  natives,  whom 
they  sold  to  the  planters  of  St.  Domingo.  This  was  the  first 
slave-trade  carried  on  in  America. 

But  the  discovery  of  a  supply  of  labour,  which  seemed 
inexhaustible,  was  not  calculated  to  teach  the  colonists  either 
caution  or  humanity.  As  they  had  overworked  and  de- 
stroyed the  natives  of  St.  Domingo,  so  they  worked  to  death 
the  slaves  whom  they  procured  from  other  islands.  It  has 
been  said  that  in  religious  and  moral  England,  there  are  men 
who  make  a  practice  of  buying  an  old  or  diseased  horse  for 
the  value  of  its  skin,  and  driving  it  without  food  till  it  dies  ; 
the  motive  assigned  for  such  barbarity  being  the  clear  profit 
obtained  by  the  use  of  an  animal,  which  costs  nothing  for 
keep  while  in  use,  and  yet  sells,  when  dead,  for  as  much  as 
it  cost  alive.  Somewhat  in  like  manner,  the  planters  of  St. 
Domingo  found  it  more  profitable  to  work  slaves  to  death, 
and  replace  them,  than  to  preserve  their  existence  by  suiting 
their  work  to  their  strength.  This  wholesale  murder  of 
stolen  Indians  produced  a  feeling  of  indignation  in  Europe. 
Las  Casas,  the  Clarkson  or  "Wilberforce  of  his  time,  founded 
a  sect  of  abolitionists ;  a  party  closely  resembling  in  many 
points  the  European  and  American  abolitionists  of  the  pres- 
ent day.  They  spared  no  pains  lor  the  attainment  of  their 
object.  By  exciting  the  besl  feelings  of  human  nature,  by 
spreading  throughout  Europe  detailed  accounts  of  the  cruel- 
toes  to  which  Spanish  slaves  were  subject,  by  circulating 
tracts,  by  an  extensive  correspondence,  by  worming  their 
way  into  courts  and  councils,  by  enlisting  on  their  side  the 
tender  but  powerful  influence  xa  women,  by  extraordinary 
watchfulness  to  Beize  every  opportunity,  and  diligence  in  turn 
ing  it  to  account,  and  still  more  by  their  unalterable  con- 


OF    SLAVERY   IN    AMERICA.  205 

stancy  of  purpose,  they  at  length  made  an  impression  on  the 
government  of  Spain.  But  although  the  king  of  Spain 
listened  to  the  abolitionists,  he  was  unwilling  to  ruin  the 
planters:  he  consented  to  protect  the  Indians  to  the  utmost 
extent,  using  modern  language,  that  was  compatible  with  the 
rights  of  property  and  the  interests  of  slave  owners  :  in 
other  words,  he  expressed  compassion  for  the  slaves,  because 
this  was  required  by  public  opinion,  but  he  would  do  nothing 
for  them.  The  question  was  in  this  state  when  the  aboli- 
tionists themselves  proposed,  that  the  planters  might  spare 
the  feeble  natives  of  America  by  procuring  hardy  negro 
slaves  from  Africa.  The  suggestion  was  adopted,  and  found 
to  answer  its  purpose.  Red  slavery  was  abolished,  and 
black  slavery  established  ;  and  this  was  the  beginning  of  a 
slave-trade  between  Africa  and  America. 

The  first  English  setders  in  America  obtained  from  Queen 
Elizabeth  a  grant  of  land  to  the  extent  of  two  hundred 
miles  in  every  direction  from  the  spot  on  which  they  might 
establish  themselves.  They  found  a  country  which  they 
described  as  a  paradise,  and  to  which  the  queen,  delighted 
with  their  account  of  it,  gave  the  name  of  Virginia.  In- 
stead, however,  of  proceeding  without  delay  to  cultivate  a 
very  small  part  of  the  fertile  territory  at  their  disposal,  they 
were  tempted  by  its  very  extent  to  wander  up  and  down 
upon  it ;  until  the  capital  which  they  had  taken  with  them 
being  consumed,  they  were  reduced  to  famine,  and  gladly 
seized  an  opportunity  of  returning  to  England.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  another  settlement  was  made  under  the  same 
grant  and  on  the  same  spot ;  but  though  on  this  occasion  the 
settlers  had  an  ample  stock  of  seeds,  implements,  and  cattle, 
with  provisions  for  two  years,  every  one  of  them  perished  ; 
by  what  means,  indeed,  can  only  be  inferred,  since  the  skele- 
ton of  one  man  was  all  that  remained  of  this  colony  when  a 
third  body  of  emigrants  from  England  reached  the  place  of 
settlement.  In  two  years  this  third  body  of  emigrants  had 
disappeared  like  the  second.  Thus,  three  attempts  to  take 
advantage  of  abundance  of  good  land,  "the  sole  cause," 
says  Adam  Smith,  "  of  the  prosperity  of  new  colonies,"  en- 
tirely failed;  attempts,  too,  directed  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
a  man  eminently  qualified  to  ensure  their  success.  Why 
those  attempts  failed  may  be  conjectured  from  what  hap- 
pened to  the  first  body  of  English  settlers  in  America  that 
did  not  perish. 

The  first  English  colony  in  America  that  did  not  perish 
was  planted  in  Chesapeake  Bay,  under  a  grant  from  King 


20G  ORIGIN,    PROGRESS,    AND    PROSrECTS 

James  I.,  who  bestowed  good  land  upon  the  settlers,  not  by 
the  acre  or  the  mile,  but  by  degrees  of  latitu  le,  and  without 
limit  as  to  longitude.  In  this  case  a  few  hundred  persons, 
amply  provided  with  capital,  and  led  too  by  men  of  experi- 
ence and  conduct,  obtained  more  land  of  very  great  natural 
fertility  than  existed  in  the  densely-peopled  country  that 
they  had  abandoned.  In  the  course  of  twenty  years  they 
were  joined  by  nearly  as  many  thousand  emigrants  ;  yet  at 
the  end  of  that  period  the  population  of  the  colony  was  less 
than  two  thousand  souls.  This  most  uncommon  decrease  of 
people  was  occasioned  by  extreme  misery.  Of  the  first 
settlers,  each  was  able  to  obtain  as  much  good  land  as  he  de- 
sired to  call  his  own.  From  this  great  abundance  of  good 
land,  nothing  being  done  to  counteract  it,  there  arose  two  evil 
consequences  in  particular.  In  the  first  place,  nearly  every 
one  became  independent  of  all  the  others,  working  by  him- 
self in  solitude,  and  therefore  dividing  his  labour  among  so 
many  occupations  that  he  could  bestow  but  little  of  his  time 
on  the  production  of  food,  while  that  small  portion  of  his 
labour  which  was  so  employed  produced  but  little,  because 
scarce  any  operation  of  agriculture  is  very  productive  unless 
there  be  employed  in  it  several  pairs  of  hands  in  combina- 
tion and  constantly,  in  the  same  particular  work,  at  the  same 
time  and  for  a  considerable  period  of  time  together.  Sec- 
ondly, as  nearly  every  one  took  possession  of  a  great  deal 
more  land  than  he  could  possibly  cultivate,  the  greater  part 
of  what  he  possessed  became,  by  becoming  his,  as  a  desert 
which  surrounded  him.  No  roads  were  made,  because,  as 
every  settler  did  every  thing  for  himself  and  by  himself,  that 
combination  of  power  which  is  indispensable  to  the  con- 
struction of  a  road  was  out  of  the  case.  Thus  each  settler 
was  surrounded,  not  merely  by  a  desert,  but  by  a  desert 
which  was  next  to  impassable.  Further,  much  of  the  capi- 
tal which  had  been  taken  out,  such  as  cattle,  seeds,  and  im- 
plements, perished  cither  on  the  beach  or  in  the  forest,  be- 
cause the;  owners  of  it  could  not  preserve  that  well-regulated 
labour  without  which  it  is  impossible  that  capital  should  be  in- 
creased or  even  preserved.  As  every  colonist  was  isolated, 
so  all  wanted  both  the  means  and  the  motive  for  raising  any 
surplus  produce;  and  any  unfavourable  accident,  conse- 
quently, Mich  as  a  wet  harvest  time,  or  an  incursion  of  the 
Indians,  reduced  many  to  want,  cut  oil*  some  by  famine,  and 
brought  the  colon]  to  the  verge  of  destruction.  Therecordi 
and  traditions  of  Virginia  lea\e  no  doubt,  that  the  first   in- 


OP   SLAVERY   IN    AMERICA.  207 

habitants  of  that  country  suffered,  during  a  long  course  of 
years,  every  conceivable  hardship. 

The  colony  was  on  the  point  of  being  abandoned,  when 
five  hundred  emigrants,  most  of  them  of  the  labouring  class, 
arrived  from  England.  He  who  is  accustomed  only  to  what 
takes  place  in  densely-peopled  countries,  may  imagine  that 
this  influx  of  labourers  into  a  society,  whose  only  want  was 
the  want  of  labourers,  must  have  produced  the  most  happy 
results.  But  this  was  not  the  case  :  the  evil  cause  existed 
still,  and  produced  the  same  evil  effect.  The  great  plenty 
of  land  led  nearly  all  the  newly  arrived  emigrants  to  be- 
come isolated  settlers;  there  were  more  colonists  for  a  time, 
but  not  one  was  in  a  better  condition,  or  had  a  better  pros- 
pect, in  consequence  of  an  increase  of  numbers.  At  length, 
the  whole  body  of  settlers,  dispersed,  and  prevented  from 
helping  each  other,  were  unable  to  raise  enough  food  for 
their  subsistence.  Their  bright  hopes  frustrated,  general 
disappointment  produced  discontent,  selfishness,  and  a  reck- 
less disregard  of  all  social  ties.  The  founders  of  Virginia 
were  not  more  remarkable  for  their  great  disasters  than  for 
their  atrocious  crimes.  They  are  described  as  resembling 
hungry  wild  beasts  ;  and  if  we  must  speak  of  them  as  hu- 
man beings,  it  is  not  harsh  to  say,  that  they  appeared  to  have 
crossed  the  Atlantic  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  each  other's 
throats  without  restraint  from  any  law. 

Such  was  the  deplorable  state  of  this  colony  when  a  cir- 
cumstance occurred,  which,  though  accidental  and  appa- 
rently trifling,  has  proved  one  of  the  most  important  events 
in  the  history  of  America.  A  Dutch  ship  laden  with  slaves 
made  its  appearance  in  James's  River.  Want  of  provisions 
had  induced  the  captain  to  put  in  there,  and  he  was  there- 
fore ready  to  dispose  of  his  living  cargo  for  a  trifle.  These 
slaves  were  bought ;  and  this  was  the  beginning  of  slavery 
in  the  United  States. 

The  slaves  were  set  to  work,  some  in  raising  food,  some 
in  cultivating  tobacco.  For  the  first  time  in  this  colony  there 
was  combination  of  labour  and  division  of  employments. 
Tobacco,  although  denounced  by  King  James  as  a  vile  and 
nauseous  weed,  was  already  prized  in  Europe  ;  and  the  soil 
and  climate  of  Virginia  were  peculiarly  suited  to  its  growth. 
Those  settlers,  therefore,  who  by  obtaining  slaves  were  en- 
abled to  employ  many  hands  constantly  in  one  work,  in  pre- 
paring the  ground  for  tobacco  plants,  in  watering  the  plants, 
in  preventing  the  growth  of  weeds,  and  in  gathering,  drying, 
and  packing  the  leaves,  now  raised  a  commodity  exchange- 


208  ORIGIN,    PROGRESS,    AND    PROSPECTS 

able  in  the  markets  of  Europe.  In  this  way  they  obtained 
various  supplies,  which  they  could  not  have  obtained  in  any 
other  way.  In  this  way  also  they  found  the  means  of  pur- 
chasing more  slaves.  As  the  number  of  slaves  increased,  the 
cultivation  of  tobacco  was  extended  ;  some  roads  were 
made,  and  solid  houses  were  built.  In  the  course  of  a  few 
years  the  face  of  the  colony  was  changed,  and  the  tobacco- 
planters  of  Virginia  became  noted  for  their  prosperity. 

The  frightful  condition,  both  physical  and  moral,  of  the 
settlers,  up  to  the  time  when  they  obtained  slaves,  was 
almost  a  bar  to  the  emigration  of  women.  It  is  supposed 
that  the  proportion  of  males  to  females,  who  emigrated  to 
this  colony  during  the  first  thirty  years  of  its  existence,  was 
above  twenty  to  one.  While  the  colony  was  in  a  state  of 
misery  and  disorganization,  none  of  the  settlers  could  have 
desired,  nor  could  any  of  them  have  easily  procured,  wives 
to  share  their  misfortunes.  But  when  they  had  acquired  the 
means  of  comfort  and  order,  they  naturally  longed  to  be 
husbands  and  fathers.  As  that  longing  was  created  by  the 
combined  and  constant  labour  of  slaves,  so  was  it  gratified. 
The  settlers  offered  to  the  captains  of  English  ships  two 
hundred  and  lifty  pounds  of  prime  tobacco  for  each  young 
woman  of  pure  health  and  good  temper,  whom  the  latter 
should  bring  from  England,  harmless,  and  bearing  a  certifi- 
cate of  honest  manners  from  the  clergyman  of  her  parish. 
At  that  time,  as  at  present,  England  abounded  in  young 
women,  beautiful,  gentle,  and  virtuous,  but  without  the  least 
prospect  of  happiness  in  marriage.  The  English  captains, 
therefore,  easily  fulfilled  their  commissions,  and  finally  con- 
ducted a  very  extensive  commerce  in  tobacco  and  marriage- 
able girls.  From  this  curious  traffic,  which,  considering  the 
abundance  of  good  land  in  Virginia,  could  not  have  taken 
place  without  slavery,  sprung  a  large  proportion  of  those; 
illustrious  Americans,  who  (hind  the  first  trial  of  perfect 
equality  in  government  aiming  whites. 

The  prosperity  of  Virginia  led  to  the  establishment  of 
more  colonics,  as  well  in  the  islands  as  on  the  mainland  of 
America.  With  the  increase  of  white  population  in  Amer- 
ica, the  number  of  American  slaves  inert  used,  in  some  mea- 
sure by  breeding,  but  for  the  most  part  by  importation  from 
Africa.  At  length  the  horrors  01  the  African  slave-trade 
raised  up  ;>  new  set  of  abolitionists.  The  value  of  slavery 
to  the  while  men  of  America  would  be  proved,  if  by  no- 
thing else,  by  the  great  and  manifold  obstacles  which  the 
abolitionists  had  to  surmount  before  their  object  was  even 


OF    SLAVERY    IN    AMERICA.  209 

partially  effected.  Their  purpose  was  to  abolish  slavery  in 
America.  With  greater  exertion  and  difficulty  than  attended 
the  establishment  of  some  wide-spread  religions,  they  have 
accomplished  no  more  than  the  abolition  of  a  trade  in  slaves 
between  Africa  and  a  part  of  America. 

Las  Casas  probably  knew  how  slavery  began  in  America. 
By  his  proposal  to  substitute  black  Africans  for  red  Indians,  he 
seems  to  have  acknowledged  the  difficulty,  he  may  even  have 
perceived  the  impossibility,  of  combining  the  labour  of  free- 
men, and  raising  a  large  net  produce  in  countries  where  every 
one  may  obtain  more  good  land  than  he  can  possibly  cultivate. 
But  Las  Casas  had  lived  in  America,  and  witnessed  the  opera* 
tion,  first  of  abundance  of  good  land,  and  next  of  slavery. 
The  modern  project  of  abolition  was  conceived  by  a  youth  in 
an  English  university  ;  and,  though  Clarkson  visited  the  West 
Indies,  it  was  not  till  his  feelings  had  been  inflamed  by  contem- 
plating from  a  distance  the  abominations  of  slavery.  At  all 
events,  Clarkson  and  Wilberforce  expected  that  the  abolition 
of  the  African  slave-trade  would  put  an  end  to  slavery  in 
America.     Never  was  there  a  greater  mistake. 

The  American  and  English  slave-trade  with  Africa  was  not 
abolished  till  the  English  in  the  West  India  islands  and  the 
Americans  on  the  continent  had. procured  an  ample  stock  of 
slaves.  Their  property,  neither  in  these  nor  in  the  progeny  of 
these,  was  affected  by  the  abolition  of  the  trade  with  Africa. 
In  order  to  keep  up  their  stock  of  slaves,  in  order  to  increase 
that  stock  indefinitely,  it  was  now  required  that,  instead  of  re- 
sorting to  Africa  for  fresh  supplies,  they  should  breed  slaves  at 
home.  But  in  doing  this  they  found  no  difficulty.  Thus, 
slavery  in  America,  instead  of  being  extinguished  by  the  abo- 
lition of  the  African  trade,  was  placed  on  a  surer  foundation 
than  when  it  depended  on  that  traffic. 

It  must  be  acknowledged,  however,  that  the  abolition  of  the 
African  trade  has  produced  some  mitigation  of  the  evils  of 
slavery  in  America.  While  that  trade  continued,  it  was  often 
found  more  profitable  to  work  slaves  to  death  and  replace 
them,  than  to  preserve  them  by  suiting  their  work  to  their 
strength.  In  order  that  they  should  not  decrease,  still  more  in 
order  that  they  should  increase,  it  became  necessary  to  treat 
them  with  some  consideration,  with  just  so  much  consideration 
as  a  stock  farmer  bestows  upon  his  cattle.  So  far  the  slaves  of 
America  owe  to  the  abolitionists  a  decided  improvement  in 
their  condition. 

But  this  improvement  has  not  extended  over  all  British 
America.  An  important  distinction  must  here  be  drawn  be- 
tween the  islands  and  the  mainland  ;  a  distinction  the  more 
necessarv,  because  Englishmen  generally  suppose  that  there  is 

27 


210  ORIGIN,    PROGRESS,    AND    PROSPECTS 

no  great  difference,  if  any,  between  the  state  of  slavery  in  the 
United  States  and  the   state   of  slavery  in  the  West  Indies. 
The  good  land  of  the  islands  is  of  limited  extent,  while  that  of 
the  continent  has  no  assignable  limits.     The  same  piece  of  land 
will  not  produce  sugar  for  many  consecutive  years  without  a 
great  increase  of  expense  ;  and  nearly  all  the  good  land  of  the 
islands  has  been  exhausted  by  the  cultivation  of  sugar.     Since 
that  land  was  exhausted,  the  growers  of  sugar  on  the  continent 
have  had  a  great  advantage  over  the  same  class  of  people  in 
the  islands.     So  great  has  been  the  advantage,  that  assuredly, 
if  the  produce  of  the  continent  had  been  let  into  the  markets 
of  Europe  on  equal  terms  with  the  produce  of  the  islands,  the 
islanders  would  some  time  ago  have  ceased  to  produce  sugar. 
In  the  British  islands  especially,  it  is  obvious  that  the  cultiva- 
tion of  sugar  has  been  preserved  by  means  of  a  monopoly  of 
the  British  market.     But  as  that  monopoly  was  required  by  the 
exhaustion  of  the  soil  of  the  West  Indies,  so  it  encouraged  the 
further  exhaustion  of  that  soil,  till  the  profits  of  sugar  growing 
in  the  West  Indies  were  reduced  to  that  amount  which,  with 
the  monopoly,  was  just   sufficient  to  prevent  sugar-growing 
from  being  abandoned.     Consequently,  since  the  abolition  of 
the  African  slave-trade,  the  planters  of  the  West  Indies  have 
not  had  a  strong  motive  for  increasing  the  number  of  their 
slaves.     It  was  not  the  abolition  of  the  African  trade,  but  the 
exhaustion  of  all   the  good  land  at  their  disposal  which  de- 
prived t-hem  of  this  motive.     Between  those  two  events  there 
is  no  connexion,  except  parity  of  time.     If  the  African  slave- 
trade  had  not  been  abolished,  if  it  had  continued  to  render  un- 
necessary the  preservation  of  slaves,  still  the  greater  profit  of 
killing  and  replacing  slaves  would  not  have  counteracted  the 
loss   of  profit  arising   from  the   necessity  of  cultivating  land 
which  every  year  decreased  in  fertility. 

But  with  a  close  monopoly  of  the  finest  market  in  the  world, 
the  planters  of  the  British  West  Indies  might  for  ages  have 
continued  to  grow  sugar  with  some  profit,  and  might  have  re- 
tained a  motive  for  keeping  up  the  number  of  their  slaves.  If 
they  had  preserved  ;i  close  monopoly  of  the  British  market, 
the  people  of  Britain  would  probably  have  made  up  for  the 
continued  decrease  in  the  fertility  of  insular  land  by  contin- 
ually paying  a  higher  price  for  insular  sugar.  Though  the 
produce  would  have  been  less  and  less,  the  profit  might  have 
remained  the  same,  in  consequence  of  the  price  becoming 
higher  and  higher.  But  "  the  West  India  interest,"  as  the 
island  planters  are  called, though  tliey  have  long  enjoyed  very 
great  influence  in  the  legislature  of  Britain,  wen;  not  permitted 
to  flourish  in  tins  way  at  the  expense  of  the  British  people. 
During  the  last  war,  the  English  took  from  the  Dutch  their 


OP    SLAVERY    IN    AMERICA.  211 

continental  settlements  in  America ;  and  at  the  close  of  the 
war  they  determined  to  keep  those  colonies,  making  a  com- 
pensation to  the  Dutch  by  agreeing  to  pay  a  vast  sum  to  the 
Emperor  of  Russia,  provided  (such  is  the  complication  of 
European  politics)  the  Belgians  and  the  Dutch,  who  hated 
each  other,  and  had  been  united  at  the  peace,  should  not 
choose  to  separate.  .  The  West  India  interest  could  easily  have 
prevented  this  acquisition ;  but  they  were  blind  to  its  conse- 
quences. It  broke  up  their  monopoly  of  the  British  market. 
By  bringing  continental  sugar  into  competition  with  insular 
sugar,  it  prevented  the  island  planters  from  raising  the  price  of 
their  sugar  in  proportion  to  the  decrease  in  the  fertility  of  their 
land.  This  acquisition  was  a  mortal  blow  to  the  West  India 
interest.  Ever  since  it  took  place,  none  of  them  have  made 
large  profits,  many  of  them  have  been  ruined  by  the  cultiva- 
tion of  sugar ;  and  the  total  ruin  of  the  whole  of  them,  in  so 
far  as  their  West  India  property  is  concerned,  seems  inevita- 
ble. These  circumstances  have  had  a  peculiar  effect  on  in- 
sular slavery.  What  with  the  progressive  exhaustion  of  insu- 
lar land,  and  the  opening  of  the  British  market  to  sugar  pro- 
duced on  land  that  was  not  exhausted,  the  island  planters  have, 
for  some  years  past,  been  without  a  motive  for  keeping  up  the 
number  of  their  slaves,  while  they  have  had  the  strongest 
motive  for  working  them  to  death.  The  result  is  well  known  ; 
a  decrease  of  population  such  as  if  pestilence  and  famine  had 
done  the  work. 

Turning  to  the  United  States,  we  6nd  that  the  abolition  of 
the  African  slave-trade  has  led  to  a  striking  improvement  in  the 
condition  of  slaves.  The  increase  of  white  population  in 
America  did  not  increase  the  proportion  of  free  labourers  to 
capitalists,  and  did  not  therefore  diminish  the  value  of  slaves. 
On  the  contrary,  as  every  freeman  could  readily  obtain  land  of 
his  own,  with  that  increase  of  whites,  of  freemen,  persons  want- 
ing labourers  bore  a  greater  proportion  to  labourers,  and  the 
demand  for  slaves  increased  accordingly.  As  every  one,  not 
being  a  slave,  could  obtain  for  a  trifle  more  good  land  than  he 
could  possibly  cultivate,  all  capitalists  felt  the  want  of  com- 
bined labour.  All  those  whites,  consequently,  who  settled  in 
the  slave  states  became  anxious  to  procure  slaves.  The  Afri- 
can trade  being  abolished,  those  who  wanted  slaves  could  ob- 
tain them  only  from  those  Americans  who  already  possessed 
them.  This  great  demand  for  slaves,  great  in  proportion  to 
the  increase  of  whites  in  the  slave  states,  and  to  the  increased 
demand  in  the  other  states  for  the  produce  of  combined  labour, 
led  to  the  establishment  of  a  new  trade  in  America ;  the  trade 
of  breeding  slaves  for  sale.  The  extent  and  importance  of 
that  trade  may  be  estimated  by  reference  to  one  or  two  facts. 


212  ORIGIN,    PROGRESS,    AND    PROSPECTS 

The  black  population  of  the  slave  states  has  increased  much 
more  rapidly  than  the  white  population  of  those  states  ;  and 
the  slave  population  has  increased  at  a  somewhat  greater  rate 
than  the  free  population  of  the  whole  Union.  There  are  two 
millions  of  slaves,  and  if  we  reckon  the  average  value  of  a 
slave  at  60/.,  the  capital  invested  in  slavery  is  120,000,000/. 
Taking  the  yearly  increase  of  slaves  in  the  United  States  to  be 
at  least  60,000,  and  the  average  value  of  a  slave  to  be  60/.,  the 
produce  in  money  obtained  by  the  breeders  of  slaves,  merely 
for  breeding,  is  3,600,000/.  per  annum.*  These  statements 
will  suffice,  without  further  explanation,  to  show  that  the  abo- 
lition of  the  African  slave  trade  has  worked  a  great  improve- 
ment in  the  condition  of  American  slaves. 

But  the  abolition  of  the  African  slave-trade  would  not  have 
had  this  effect,  if  the  original  cause  of  slavery  had  not  steadily 
continued  to  operate.  Considering  how  slavery  arose,  and  in 
what  way  it  has  progressed  in  America,  its  original  and  perma- 
nent cause  seems  to  be  sMyjerabundance  of  land  in  proportion 
to  people.  Other  considerations  come  to  the  support  of  this 
view  of  the' 'subject. 

That  superabundance  of  land  to  which  the  English  econo- 
mists, from  Adam  Smith  downwards,  attribute  the  prosperity 
of  new  colonies,  has  never  led  to  great  prosperity  without  some 
kind  of  slavery.  The  states  of  New-England,  in  which  negro 
slavery  was  never  permitted,  form  no  exception  to  the  general 
rule.  Adam  Smith,  in  his  chapter  on  "  the  causes  of  the  pros- 
peritvof  new  colonies,"  tries  to  establish  by  a  pretty  long  argu- 
ment that  the  wonderful  prosperity  of  the  Greek  colonies  was 
owing  to  "  clearness  of  labour,"  to  "  high  wages,"  which  enabled 
the  bulk  of  the  people  to  save  and  to  increase  as  rapidly  as  pos- 
sible :  whereas  the  unquestionable  fact  is,  that  all  the  work 
performed  in  those  colonies,  whether  in  agriculture  or  manu- 
factures, was  performed  by  slaves.  All  work  in  Brazil  has  been 
performed  by  the  labour  of  slaves.  In  New  South  \\  ales  and 
Van  Diemcn's  Land,  prosperous  colonies,  capitalists  are  sup- 
plied with  slave-labour  in  the  shape  of  convicts.  That  they  set 
the  greatest  value  on  ihis  labour,  is  proved  by  (heir  extreme 
fear  lest  the  system  of  transportation  should  be  discontinued; 
although  the  evils  which  it  produces  are  too  many  to  be 
counted,  and  too  greal  to  be  believed  in  England.     Finally, 

though  the  puritans  and   the   followers  of  Bonn,  who  founded 

the  colonic-,  of  New-England,  flourished  with  superabundance 
of  land  and  w  ithouf  negro  Blaves,  they  did  not  flourish  without 
slavery.     Though  tin  ir  religious  sentiments  prompted  them  to 

*  200/  Mid  300/  are  common  pricea  foi  ;i  well  taught  and  able  slave.  Aa 
much  aa600  ii  aometimea  given  for  a  young  man  ox  aupexior  skill  in  some 
linen  of  industry. — Set  Stuart,  vol.  2,  page  190. 


OF    SLAVERY    IN    AMERICA.  213 

abstain  from  the  purchase  of  negroes,  so  severely  did  they,  on 
that  very  account,  feel  the  want  of  constant  and  combined 
labour,  that  they  were  led  to  carry  on  an  extensive  traffic  in 
white  men  and  children,  who,  kidnapped  in  Europe,  were  vir- 
tually sold  to  those  fastidious  colonists,  and  treated  by  them  as 
slaves.  But  the  number  of  Europeans  kidnapped  for  the  pur- 
pose of  sale  in  those  parts  of  America  where  negroes  could  not 
be  sold,  though  considerable,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
settlers  then  wanting  combined  labour,  was  small  when  com- 
pared with  the  number  of  Europeans,  who,  first  decoyed  to 
America  by  the  offer  of  a  passage  cost  free,  and  the  promise  of 
high  wages,  were  then  transferred  for  terms  of  years  to  colo- 
nists who  paid  for  their  passage.  These,  under  the  name  of 
redemptioncrs,  were,  for  a  long  period,  the  principal  servants  of 
those  colonies  in  which  slavery  was  forbidden  by  law.  Even 
so  lately  as  within  the  last  twenty  years,  and  especially  during 
the  last  war  between  England  and  America,  which  put  a  stop 
to  Irish  emigration,  vast  numbers  of  poor  Germans  were  de- 
coyed to  those  states  which  forbid  slavery,  and  there  sold  for 
long  terms  of  years  to  the  highest  bidder  by  public  auction. 
Though  white  and  free  in  name,  they  were  really  not  free  to 
become  independent  landowners,  and  therefore  it  was  possible 
to  employ  their  labour  constantly  and  in  combination.  Lastly, 
even  in  those  colonies  which  never  permitted  negro  slavery, 
negroes  have  always  been  considered,  what  indeed  there 
seems  reason  to  conclude  that  they  are  by  nature,  an  inferior 
order  of  beings.  A  black  man  never  was,  nor  is  he  now, 
treated  as  a  man  by  the  white  men  of  New-England.*  There, 
where  the  most  complete  equality  subsists  among  white  men, 
and  every  white  man  is  taught  to  respect  himself  as  well  as 
other  white  men,  black  men  are  treated  as  if  they  were  horses 
or  dogs.  Thus,  notwithstanding  superabundance  of  land,  black 
men  have  always  found  it  difficult  to  rise  above  the  condition 
of  labourers  for  hire  ;  and  thus  such  blacks  as  either  escaped, 
or  were  allowed  to  go  free,  from  the  slave  states,  to  settle  in 
the  other  states,  provided  servants  for  the  capitalists  of  those 
other  states.  The  large  proportion  of  black  servants  in  New- 
England  has  always  been  remarked,  and  it  is  remarkable  at  this 
moment  in  Philadelphia,  the  strong  hold  of  Quakerism. f     In 

*  "  The  freedmen  of  other  countries  have  long  since  disappeared,  having  been 
amalgamated  in  the  general  mass.  Here  there  can  be.no  amalgamation.  Our 
manumitted  bondsmen  have  remained  already  to  the  third  and  fourth  generation, 
a  distinct,  a  degraded,  and  a  wretched  race." — President  Nott,  of  Union  College, 
New-York — quoted  by  Mr.  Stuart. 

"  Few  people  of  colour  in  the  churches,  and  such  of  them  as  are  there, 
assemble  in  a  corner  separate  from  the  rest  of  the  people." — Stuart,  vol.  i.  p.  196. 

t  "  It  is  computed  that  there  are  in  Philadelphia  10,000  free  coloured 
people." — Journal  of  Travels  in  the  United  States  of  North  America  and  in 
Lower  Canada,  performed  in  the  year  1817,  by  John  Palmer.  The  number  of 
blacks  in  Philadelphia  is  very  much  greater  than  in  1817.     By  the  Ia*l  census 


214  ORIGIN,    PROGRESS,    AND    PROSPECTS 

this  way,  the  slavery  of  some  states  has,  not  very  indirectly, 
bestowed  upon  other  states  much  of  the  good  and  some  of  the 
evil  that  arise  from  slavery. 

In  another  way,  the  states  which  forbid  slavery  have  gained 
by  it  immensely  without  any  corresponding  evil.  The  states 
of  America  must  be  viewed  as  one  country,  in  which  there  is 
a  considerable  distribution  of  employments,  and  in  which  ex- 
changes take  place  of  the  different  productions  raised  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  Union.  "  The  division  of  labour,"  says 
Adam  Smith,  meaning  the  distribution  of  employments.  u  is 
limited  by  the  extent  of  the  market."  The  great  fishing  estab- 
lishments of  the  non-slaveholding  colonies  were  set  up  for  the 
purpose  of  supplying  the  slaves  of  the  West  Indies,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  Georgia,  and  the  Carolinas,  who  were  employed  in 
raising  tobacco,  rice,  and  sugar  ;  commodities  exchangeable  in 
the  markets  of  Europe;  commodities  which  have  never  been 
raised  on  any  large  scale  in  America  except  by  the  combined 
labour  of  slaves.  A  great  part  of  the  commerce  of  the  northern 
states,  of  Boston,  New- York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore,  has 
always  consisted  of  a  carrying  trade  for  the  southern  states ; 
the  one  work  of  raising  produce  for  the  markets  of  Europe  and 
conveying  it  thither  being  so  divided,  that  the  produce  was 
raised  by  the  southern  and  conveyed  by  the  northern  states  ; 
a  division  of  employments  which  depended  on  the  labour  of 
slaves,  since,  if  a  produce  had  not  been  raised  fit  for  distant 
markets,  carriers  would  not  have  been  required,  and  since  such 
produce  could  not*  have  been  raised  by  labour,  uncertain  and 
scattered  as  free  labour  always  is  with  superabundance  of  good 

of  the  American  people  it  appears,  that  in  1931,  there  were  in  the  state  of 
Pennsylvania  37,900  free  coloured  persons;  in  the  state  of  New- York  44,869  ; 
and  in  Ohio  37,930. 

"  The  whole  establishment  (on  board  the  '  North  America'  steam-boat,  New- 
York)  of  kitchen  servants,  waiters,  and  cooks,  all  people  of  colour,  on  a  great 
scale." — Stuart,  vol.  i.  p.  40. 

"  Nothing  can  be  more  disgraceful  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  nor 
more  inconsistent  with'  their  professed  principles  of  equality,  than  their  treat- 
ment of  free  people  of  colour.  Tbey  constantly  subject  them  to  indignities  of 
every  kind,  and  refuse  altogether  to  eat  or  drink  With  them." — Stuart,  vol.  i. 
page  501 . 

*  "The  following  II  Mr.  Timothy  Flint's  account  of  a  Louisiana  plantation. 
•  If  we  could  lay  out  of  the  question  the  intrinsic  evils  of  the  ease  (he  bad  been 

alluding  t"  the  stair  < .  t  the  slaves),  it  would  be  a  cheering  Bight,  thai  which  is 
presented  by  a  large  Louisiana  plantation  -the  fields  are  a*  level  and  regular 
within  figures,  as  gardens,     They  sometimes  contain  :i  >>r  4060  acres  En  otu 

field;  and  I  have  seen  Imina  doztn  (O  tiniiii/  ploughs,  all  making  their  Straight 
furrows   through  a  field,  a  mile    in   depth,  With  B  regularity  which,    it  would   be 

supposed,  could  be  obtained  only  by  a  line.'    This  description  is  quite  correct. 

The  drills  of  the   finest    turnip   In  Ids  in   Norfolk,  or  even  on   Mr.  Kemiie's,  of 

Pbantassies,  beautiful  farm  in  Last  Lothian,  are  not  more  accurately  drawn  ; 
nor  u  the  whale  management  more  admirable  than  the  hues  and  the  cultivation 
of  the  cane  on  one  of  the  great  plantations  of  Louisiana." — Stuart,  vol.  ii. 
page  215. 


OF   SLAVERY   IN    AMERICA.  215 

land.     At  the  present  time,  which  is  the  great  market  for  the 
surplus  produce  of  farmers  in  the  non-slaveholding  states  on 
the  western  rivers  ?     New-Orleans.    And  how  could  that  great 
market  have  existed  without  slavery?*     Capitalists  again,  na- 
tives of  the  states  which  forbid  slavery,  reside  during  part  of 
every  year  in  the  slave  states,  and  reap  large  profits  by  dealing 
in  rice,  sugar,  and  cotton,  exchangeable  commodities,  which, 
it  must  be  repeated,  have  never  been  raised  to  any  extent  in 
America  except  by  the  labour  of  slaves.     A  New-Englander 
may  boast  that  slavery  was  never  permitted  in  his  state,  as  a 
baker  may  pride  himself  on  being  less  cruel  than  his  neighbour 
the    butcher;    but    the  dependence  of  the  northern    on  the 
southern  states  for  a  market  for  their  surplus  produce,  for  a 
demand  for  the  produce  of  their  industry  in  a  thousand  shapes, 
is  as  close  as  the  dependence  on  each  other  of  the  baker  and 
the  butcher  who  deal  together.     In  the  division  of  employ- 
ments which  has  taken  place  in  America,  the  far  preferable 
share,  truly,  has  fallen  to  the  northern  states  ;  but  that  division 
of  employments  did  not  precede,  on  the  contrary  it  followed, 
combination  of  labour  in  particular  works,  and  the  surplus  ex- 
changeable produce  obtained  by  that  first  improvement  in  the 
productive  powers  of  industry.     The  states,  therefore,  which 
forbid  slavery,  having  reaped  the  economical  benefits  of  slavery, 
without  incurring  the  chief  of  its  moral  evils,  seem  to  be  even 
more  indebted  to  it  than  the  slave  states.     If  those  who  forbid 
slavery  within  their  own  legal  jurisdiction  should  also  resolve 
to  have  no  intercourse  or  concern  with  slave-owners,  to  do 
nothing  for   them,  and   to  exchange  nothing  with  them,  we 
should  see  an  economical  revolution  in  America,  that  would 
prove  better  than  a  thousand  arguments  the  value  of  slavery 
in  a  country  where  every  free  man  can  obtain  plenty  of  good 
land  for  a  trifle. 

Let  us  now  turn  for  a  moment  to  those  new  countries  in 
which  the  people  have  had  superabundance  of  good  land  with- 
out slavery.  Not  a  single  one  of  these  societies  has  greatly 
prospered  :  many  have  perished  entirely,  and  some  remain  in 

*  "  He  (Colonel  Coleman)  had  come  up  the  Appalachicola  and  Chattahooche 
rivers,  and  was  now  on  his  way  to  New-Orleans  to  buy  pork  and  provisions  for 
his  slaves.  He  has  only  got  forty  slaves  upon  his  property  ;  but  he  tells  me 
that  twenty  slaves  are  necessary  for  every  100  acres  of  sugar-cane  land." 
— Stuart,  vol.  ii.  page  155. 

*'  One  of  our  stopping  places  for  wood,  not  far  above  the  confluence  of  the 
Mississippi  and  Ohio,  was  at  Mr.  Brox's  farm  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  He 
has  700  acres  of  fine  land,  about  100  head  of  cattle,  and  an  innumerable  quan- 
tity of  pigs.  He  says  he  has  no  difficulty  in  selling  all  the  produce  of  his  farm  ; 
he  disposes  of  his  stock  to  the  New-Orleans  butchers,  who  go  all  over  this  coun- 
try to  make  their  purchases  ;  and  there  are  merchants  who  have  great  depots 
of  grain,  salted  pork,  and  other  agricultural  produce,  which  they  scour  the  coun- 
try to  collect,  and  afterward  carry  to  New-Orleans." — Stuart,  vol.  ii.  page  302.  ^ 


*216  0RIGIX,    PROGRESS,    AND    PROSPECTS 

a  deplorable  condition.     From  these  last,  two  striking  examples 
may  be  selected. 

It  would  be  unfair  to  dwell  here  on  the  misery,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  superabundance  of  good  land,  which  belongs  to  many 
savage  nations;  but  an  allusion  to  such  cases  is  not  misplaced, 
if  made  only  for  the  purpose  of  explaining  that  the  present  in- 
quiry is  confined  to  the  operation  of  superabundance  of  good 
land  on  civilized  societies,  among  whom  private  properly  is 
established,  who  possess  some  knowledge  of  the  productive 
arts,  and  who  practise  to  some  extent  that  division  of  classes 
and  employments  which,  on  the  principle  of  mutual  assistance, 
adds  to  the  productive  powers  of  industry.  The  most  remark- 
able instance,  perhaps,  of  such  a  society,  having  at  its  disposal 
an  unlimited  quantity  of  good  land,  is  the  Spanish  colony  of 
Buenos  Ayres.  The  vast  plain  which  lies  between  the  South 
Atlantic  and  the  mountains  of  Chili  contains  hardly  any  sterile 
land.  Nearly  the  whole  of  it  consists  of  the  most  fertile  soil, 
which,  though  in  a  state  of  nature,  exhibits  vegetation  more 
luxuriant  than  could  be  produced  in  the  greater  part  of  Europe 
by  the  most  skilful  cultivation.  This  land  is  naturally  fit  for 
cultivation ;  since  throughout  the  pampas  there  are  no  dense 
forests  like  those  which  once  covered  Pennsylvania,  nor  any 
swamps  like  those  which  still  remain  on  the  shores  of  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  On  a  district  extending  one  hundred  and  eighty 
miles  from  the  coast,  nature  produces  the  richest  crops  of 
nothing  but  thistles  and  clover,  and  on  another  district,  extend- 
ing four  hundred  and  fifty  miles  farther  to  the  west,  nothing  but 
a  profusion  of  grass  without  a  weed.  The  climate  of  the 
whole  plain  resembles  that  of  Italy,  with  this  difference  in  its 
favour,  that  it  is  not  rendered  unwholesome  by  malaria.  This, 
then,  was  the  finest  situation  in  the  world,  in  which  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  abundance  of  good  land.  The  Spaniards,  who  got 
possession  of  these  fertile  plains,  emigrated  from  one  of  the 
civilized  European  states.  Yet,  according  to  the  best  inform- 
ation that  can  be  obtained  of  a  society  now  more  than  half- 
barbarous,  this  colony  never  prospered,  Capital  has  never 
obtained  high  profits,  nor  labour  high  wages.  On  the  contrary, 
the  colony  seems  t<>  have  languished  throughout  its  career, and 
though  the  people  have  increased,  it  has  been  less  quickly  than 
people  now  increase  in  some  <>f  the  oldest  and  most  densely- 

E copied  countries  of  Europe.     During  some  years,  this  colony 
as  been  an  independent  state  ;  but  the  people,  dispersed  over 

their  vast  and  fertile  plains,  have  almost  ceased  I"  cultivate  the 

good  land  at   their  disposal  ;   they  subsist  principally,  many  of 

them  entirely,  on  the  flesh  of  wild  cattle  ;  they  have  lost  most 
of  the  arts  of  civilized  life;  not  a  few  <»f  them  are  constantly 
in  a  state  of  deplorable  misery;  and  if  they  should  continue,  as 


OF    SLAVERY    IN    AMERICA.  217 

it  seems  probable  that  they  will,  to  retrograde  as  at  present, 
the  beautiful  pampas  of  Buenos  Ayres  will  soon  be  fit  for  an- 
other experiment  in  colonization.  Slaves,  black,  red,  or  yel- 
low, would  have  cultivated  those  plains,  would  have  been  kept 
together, would  have  been  made  to  assist  each  other;  would, 
by  keeping  together  and  assisting  each  other,  have  raised  a  sur- 
plus produce  exchangeable  in  distant  markets ;  would  have 
kept  their  masters  together  for  the  sake  of  markets ;  would 
by  combination  of  labour  have  promoted  division  of  employ- 
ments ;  would,  cattle  themselves,  have  preserved  among  their 
masters  the  arts  and  habits  of  civilized  life.  That  slavery 
might  have  done  all  this,  seems  not  more  plain  than  that  so 
much  good  would  have  been  bought  too  dear  if  its  price  had 
been  slavery. 

The  last  colony  founded  by  Englishmen  has  severely  felt  the 
want  of  slavery.  On  the  west  coast  of  New  Holland  there  is 
abundance  of  good  land,  and  of  land  too,  cleared  and  drained 
by  nature.  Those  who  have  left  England  to  settle  there  have 
carried  out,  among  them,  more  than  enough  capital  to  employ 
such  of  them  as  were  of  the  labouring  class.  The  capital 
taken  out,  in  seeds,  implements,  cattle,  sheep,  and  horses,  can- 
not have  been  less,  in  money  value,  than  200,000/.  ;  and  the 
labourers  must  have  amounted  to  a  thousand  at  the  very  lowest. 
What  is  become  of  all  that  capital  and  all  those  labourers? 
The  greater  part  of  the  capital  has  perished  ;  some  few  of  the 
labourers  have  died  of  hunger ;  some,  falling  into  extreme  want, 
have  been  glad  to  escape  to  Van  Diemen's  Land,  where  there 
are  slaves  ;  and  the  remainder  are  independent  land-owners, 
isolated,  not  well  supplied  with  even  the  necessaries  of  life,  and 
as  wild  as  Englishmen  could  become  in  so  short  a  time.  This 
colony  may  prosper  in  the  course  of  years  ;  but  for  the  present 
it  must  be  considered,  when  compared  with  the  expectations 
of  those  who  founded  it,  a  decided  failure.  Why  this  failure 
with  all  the  elements  of  success,  a  fine  climate,  plenty  of  good 
land,  plenty  of  capital,  and  enough  labourers?  The  explana- 
tion is  easy.  In  this  colony  there  never  has  been  a  class  of 
labourers.  Those  who  went  out  as  labourers  no  sooner  reached 
the  colony  than  they  were  tempted  by  the  superabundance  of 
good  land  to  become  land-owners.  One  of  the  founders  of  the 
colony,  Mr.  Peel,  who,  it  is  said,  took  out  a  capital  of  50,000/. 
and  three  hundred  persons  of  the  labouring  class,  men,  women, 
and  children,  has  been  represented  as  left  without  a  servant  to 
make  his  bed  or  fetch  him  water  from  the  river.*  The  writer 
of  the  first  book  concerning  this  colony  states,  that  landing  in 

*  My  authority  for  this  statement  is  a  gentleman,  lately  in  England,  who 
went  to  the  Swan  River  as  Mr.  Peel's  agent. 

28 


21S  ORIGIN,    PROGRESS,    AND   TROSPECTS 

Cockburn  Sound  with  goods  taken  from  England,  he  did,  with 
some  difficulty,  procure  workmen  to  place  his  goods  under  a 
tent ;  but  that  there,  tor  want  of  workmen  to  remove  them, 
they  remained  till  they  were  spoiled,  as  the  tent  became  rotten. 
In  such  a  state  of  things  it  was  impossible  to  preserve  capital. 
While  Mr.  Peel  was  without  servants  his  capital  perished  ;  but 
as  soon  as  his  capital  had  perished  for  want  of  servants,  those 
who  hud  been  his  servants  insisted  on  his  giving  them  employ- 
ment. Having  tried  a  life  of  complete  independence,  and  felt 
the  pains  of  hunger,  they  now  wanted  to  become  labourers 
again.  At  one  time  Mr.  Peel  was  to  be  seen  imploring  his 
servants  to  remain  with  him,  at  another  escaping  from  their  fury 
at  his  not  being  able  to  give  them  work.  The  same  thing  hap- 
pened in  many  cases.  Jn  each  case,  it  was  owing  to  the  facility 
with  which  people,  labourers  when  they  reached  the  colony, 
became  independent  land-owners.  Some  of  these  independent 
land-owners  died  of  hunger:*  and  at  a  time  too  when,  as  it 
happened,  a  large  supply  of  food  had  just  reached  the  colony 
from  Van  Diemen's  Land.  Why  were  they  starved?  because 
where  they  had  settled  was  not  known  to  the  governor,  or  even 
to  themselves  ;  for,  though  they  could  say  "  we  are  here,"  they 
could  not  tell  where  any  one  else  was:  such  was  the  disper- 
sion of  these  colonists  in  consequence  of  superabundance  of 
good  land.  Many  of  them,  both  capitalists  and  labourers, 
capitalists  without  capital  and  labourers  without  work,  have 
removed  to  Van  Diemen's  Land  ;  the  cost  of  passage  for  the 
latter  being  defrayed  by  settlers  in  that  slave-holding  pros- 
perous island.  Some  have  wandered  from  the  original  place 
of  settlement  towards  King  George's  Sound,  in  search,  say 
they,  of  better  land.  Others,  men  of  unusual  courage  and 
energy,  remain  on  the  banks  of  the  Swan  River,  knowing  well 
that  the  partial  ruin  of  this  colony  is  not  owing  to  want  of  good 
land.  These,  one  of  whose  chief  inducements  to  settling  in 
this  colony  was  an  undertaking  from  the  English  government 
that  no  convicts  should  be  sent  thither,  are  now  begging  for  a 
supply  of  convict  labour.  They  want  Blaves.  They  want 
labour  which  shall  be  constant  and  liable  to  combination  in 
particular  works,  I  la\  ing  this,  they  would  raise  a  tiel  produce, 
and  have  division  of  emplo)  ments.  Not  having  convict  labour, 
they  will  long  for  African  slaves  ;  and  would  obtain  them,  too, 
if  public  opinion  in  England  did  not  forbid  it.  Without  either 
convicts  or  Blaves,  they  may  have  hordes  of  wild  cattle,  which 
supply  food  almost  without  labour:  but  they  cannot  have 
much  more.  Considering  the  superabundance  of  capital  and 
labourers  in  England,  the  disposition  of  capitalists  and  labourers 

*  My  authority  is  Mr.  Peel's  agent,  Mr.  Elmnlry. 


OF    SLAVERY   IN   AMERICA.  219 

to  emigrate  in  search  of  new  fields  of  employment,  the  great 
natural  advantages  of  this  colony,  and  the  false  accounts  of  its 
prosperity  now  and  then  received  in  England,  we  should  won- 
der that  emigration  to  the  Swan  River  had  almost  ceased,  if 
that  very  fact  did  not  show  that  by  settling  in  this  colony  no 
well-informed  man  can  expect  to  better  his  condition.  But  the 
failure  of  this  last  experiment  in  colonization  will  have  one  good 
effect,  if  it  help  to  teach  the  English  and  Americans,  that  the 
original  and  permanent  cause  of  slavery  in  America  is  super- 
abundance of  good  land.* 

The  prospects  of  slavery  in  the  West  Indies  and  the  United 
States  may  now  be  briefly  considered ;  and,  the  cause  of 
slavery  being  ascertained,  with  some  chance  of  a  useful 
result. 

The  slaves  of  the  West  Indies  have  just  been  turned  into 
apprentices.  As  if  on  purpose  that  they  should  still  be  made 
to  work  like  slaves,  the  planters'  monopoly  of  the  British 
market  is  preserved.  Or,  perhaps,  since  the  negroes  would 
not  be  worth  a  farthing  apiece  without  the  monopoly,  it  is  pre- 
served as  an  excuse  for  giving  compensation  to  the  planters. 
The  monopoly  being  worth  2,000,000/.  a  year,  the  English 
buy  it  for  20,000,000/.,  let  the  sellers  keep  it,  and  will  pay 
2,000,000/.  a  year  as  before,  by  way  of  bribing  the  planters  to 
make  the  apprentices  work  like  slaves.  This  they  call  re- 
formed legislation.  It  will  probably  be  defeated  by  the  ap- 
prentices; but,  at  all  events,  in  however  bungling  or,  maybe, 
bloody  a  way,  slavery  will  soon  cease  throughout  the  British 
West  Indies. 

If  means  be  not  soon  found  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  United 
States,  gradually  and  peacefully,  it  seems  more  than  probable, 
that,  what  with  the  rapid  increase  of  American  slaves,  already 
more  than  two  millions,  and  the  emancipation  of  eight  hundred 
thousand  English  slaves  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  United 
States,  the  slaves  of  the  continent  will,  at  no  distant  day,  right 
themselves  in  the  midst  of  Jefferson's  thunder.  "  The  Ameri- 
cans," says  Mr.  Stuart,  "  conceive  that  the  increasing  numbers 


*  Miss  Martineau,  the  most  entertaining  of  writers  on  political  economy,  in 
order  to  show  how  a  society  obtains  wealth,  has  described  the  supposed  case  of 
some  English  people  Bettling  in  a  waste  country,  living  together,  combining 
their  labour  and  dividing  their  employments.  It  is  in  this  way,  and  only  in 
this  way,  no  doubt,  that  wealth  is  ever  obtained  ;  but  any  thing  like  the  sup- 
posed case  hardly  ever,  perhaps  never,  existed.  If  Miss  Martineau  bad  planted 
her  settlers  in  an  island  of  such  an  extent  in  proportion  to  their  numbers  that 
they  should  necessarily  have  lived  together,  her  story  would  have  been  perfect; 
but  she  places  them  in  a  vast  wilderness  of  good  land,  in  a  situation  which,  if 
we  arc  to  judge  by  all  experience,  is  inconsistent  with  the  combination  of  labour 
and  the  division  of  employments. 


220  OnifilN,    PROGRESS,    AND    PKOSPECTS 

of  their  slaves  require  more  coercive  laws  nnd  greater  severity 
of  treatment ;  and  are  proceeding  on  this  principle,  every  year 
increasing  the  hardships  of  their  almost  intolerable  situation, 
and  adding  new  fetters  to  those  which  are  already  too  heavy 
for  them  to  wear."  But  what  will  the  Americans  conceive 
when  the  fetters  worn  by  eight  hundred  thousand  English 
slaves  shall  have  been  broken  by  act  of  parliament,  or  by  those 
slaves  themselves?  Greater  harshness  in  proportion  to  the 
greater  danger  will  doubtless  be  their  policy.  That  policy, 
which  Mr.  Stuart  says,  "  no  one  unconnected  with  America 
can  wish  may  prove  well-founded,"  is  founded  on  experience. 
Experience  has  taught  all  slave-owners,  that  education  and 
slavery,  kindness  and  slavery,  cannot  go  on  together.  As  the 
slaves  of  the  United  States  shall  become  more  numerous,  and 
as  the  danger  of  their  learning  that  thev  are  men  shall  become 
greater,  either  they  must  be  set  free,  or  greater  pains  must  be 
taken  to  maintain  their  ignorance,  torpidity,  and  submissive- 
ness  ;  to  hold  them,  mentally,  in  the  state  of  brutes.  But  this 
policy  may  defeat  its  object,  leading  sooner  perhaps  than  might 
otherwise  have  happened  to  a  great  servile  war.  That  the 
slaves,  once  roused,  would  easily  prove  a  match  for  their  im- 
mediate masters,  may  not  be  doubtful  ;  but  if  the  force  of  the 
whole  Union  were  brought  against  them,  ten  millions  of  whites 

DO  * 

to  two  millions  of  blacks,  they  would,  almost  certainly,  be  con- 
quered, and  for  a  time  subdued  as  before.  In  either  case, 
there  would  be  plenty  of  thunder-,  in  either  case,  the  prospect 
is  as  black  as  possible. 

Will  the  Americans  voluntarily  set  ^ree  their  slaves,  not 
having  any  substitute  for  the  combined  and  constant  labour  of 
slaves  I  The  answer  is,  that  they  will  not,  of  their  own 
accord,  destroy  property  which  they  value  at  1^0.000,000^., 
and  which  is  really  worth  that  sum  at  market. 

Is  there  any  prospect  of  such  a  full  in  the  value  of  slaves  as 
might  render  slavery  not  worth  preserving  '  Of  this  there  is 
not,  at  present,  the  slightest  prospect :  because  the  white  popu- 
lation wanting  slaves  increases  as  fast  almost  in  number  as  the 
slaves  themselves,  and  faster  in  capital,  for  using  which  slaves 
are  wanted;  because  superabundance  of  good  land  will  con- 
tinue; to  make  slaves  valuable,  by  enabling  every  freeman  who 
so  pleas*  a  to  become  an  independent  land-owner. 

But,  considering  that  the  Americans  pay  3,600,000/.  a  year 

for  the  increase  of  slave-labour,  that  the  English  pay  about  the 

sruiK  •  sum  for  the  maintenance  of  idle  paupers,  might  not  these 
two  Bums,  making  together  ?,'J( )(),()( )()/..  be  so  employed  in  con- 
veying to  America  the  surplus  labour  of  England,  that,  before 
very  long,  free-labour  should  be  substituted  lor  slave-labour  in 


OP    SLAVERY    IN    AMERICA,  221 

America  ?  Supposing  the  cost  of  passage  from  England  to 
America  to  be  10Z.,*  the  yearly  expenditure  of  7,200,000/.  in 
this  way  would  take  from  England  to  America  720,000  la- 
bourers every  year  ;  about  twelve  times  as  many  as  the  yearly 
increase  of  American  slaves.  In  three  years,  the  number  of 
labourers  so  taken  to  America  would  be  100,000  more  than 
the  whole  number  of  American  slaves.  In  three  years,  then,  it 
might  be  supposed,  this  great  amount  of  immigration  would  ex- 
tinguish slavery  in  America  by  the  substitution  of  free-labour. 
But  who  would  suppose  this,  that  has  observed  the  effects  of 
superabundance  of  good  land.f  The  2,100,000  labourers 
taken  to  America  might  all  of  them,  and  would  most  of  them, 
cease  to  be  labourers  for  hire  soon  after  landing  in  the  new 
country  ;  they  would  become  independent  land-owners,  com- 
petitors with  American  capitalists  in  the  market  of  labour,  and 
buyers  of  slaves.  So  vast  an  amount  of  immigration,  there- 
fore, instead  of  diminishing,  would  probably  augment,  the  value 
of  American  slaves,  and  render  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
America  still  more  difficult. 

Still,  as  in  America,  the  whites  are  ten  millions  and  the  blacks 
but  two  millions ;  and  as  the  whites  increase  at  nearly  as  great 
a  rate  as  the  blacks  ;  as  the  twelve  millions  will,  there  can 
hardly  be  any  doubt,  become  twenty-four  millions  in  the  course 
of  twenty-five  years  or  less,  is  there  no  prospect  that  land  will 
rise  in  value,  so  that  every  freeman  shall  no  longer  be  able  to 
obtain  for  a  trifle  more  good  land  than  he  can  possibly  culti- 
vate ;  so  that  the  value  of  slaves  shall  fall ;  so  that  the  propri- 
etors of  slaves,  being  most  of  them  proprietors  of  land,  shall 
be  ready  to  liberate  their  slaves,  gaining  on  the  one  hand  as 
much  as  they  might  lose  on  the  other,  or  more  1  Of  this  there 
is  no  prospect ;  for  three  reasons.  First,  because,  however 
rapidly  population  may  increase,  the  quantity  of  land  appro- 
priated by  individuals  will  increase  at  the  same  rate  ;  because, 
in  short,  the  colonization  of  new  wilderness  will  go  on  as  fast 
as  population  shall  increase,  so  that  every  freeman  will  still  be 
able  to  obtain  for  a  trifle  more  good  land  than  he  can  possibly 
cultivate.  Secondly,  because  the  land  east  of  the  Alleghany 
Mountains  has  been  exhausted  to  a  considerable  extent,  not 
merely  for  the  growth  of  sugar,  as  in  the  West  Indies,  but  fairly 
worn   out  by  unskilful  cultivation  ;J  and  thus,  from    this  ex- 

*  The  actual  cost  of  a  pauper's  passage,  with  more  and  better  food  on  the 
voyage  than  he  obtains  in  England,  is  about  71. 

t  See  extract  from  Captain  Basil  Hall's  letter  to  Mr.  Wilmot  Horton,  in  a 
note  to  Note  I. 

%  A  writer  in  the  Edinburgh  Review  (Professor  M'Culloch,  I  suspect)  attrib- 
utes the  exhaustion  and  abandonment  of  land,  in  the  eastern  states,  to  a  want  of 
Animal  manure,  in-consequence  of  the  work  of  cattle  being  performed  by  men. 
Would  not  farms  in  England  soon  be  exhausted  if  English  farmers  had  no 


222  ORIGIN-,   PROGRESS,   AXD   prospects 

hausted  district  to  new  land  in  the  w  estern  districts,  emigration, 
both  of  whites  and  slaves,  has  taken  place  to  a  great  amount, 
and  is  still  going  on  rapidly  ;  so  that  in  those  exhausted  dis- 
tricts, a  fall  rather  than  a  rise  in  the  value  of  land  may  be  ex- 
pected. Thirdly,  because  where  the  moral  evils  of  slavery 
exist,  there  whites  settle  for  one  purpose  only,  that  of  gaining 
by  the  combined  labour  of  slaves.  But  the  greater  part  of  the 
whiles  of  America  are  content  to  share  from  a  distance  the 
economical  advantages  of  slavery,  without  incurring  its  moral 
evils  by  going  to  live  among  slaves.  The  new  settler  on  the 
Ohio  can  sell  his  honey,  which  may  be  raised  without  com- 
bined labour  in  that  particular  work,  for  tobacco,  which  may 
not,  without  hearing  the  smack  of  a  slave-driver's  whip,  or  the 

manure  but  what  is  furnished  by  their  working  cattle  !  There  are  many  dis- 
tricts of  Europe,  such  as  the  mountainous  coasts  of  Spain  and  Italy,  not  to 
mention  great  part  of  China,  where  agricultural  work  is  almost  entirely  per- 
formed by  men,  and  where,  notwithstanding,  land  is  kept  in  the  higbest  state 
of  fertility  by  means  of  animal  manure.  The  exhaustion  of  land  in  America  is 
one  of  the  evils,  over  and  above  slavery,  resulting  from  superabundance  of  good 
land.  The  single,  independent  land-owner  and  cultivator  might  not  be  able  to 
live,  still  less  to  raise  any  surplus  produce,  if  he  were  fixed  on  the  same  piece  of 
land.  He  whose  labour  is  already  divided  among  so  many  occupations,  would 
act  a  foolish  part  in  adding  to  them  the  occupation  of  fetching  manure,  from  a 
great  distance  perhaps,  and  the  occupation  of  laying  manure  on  his  land,  when 
for  a  tritle  be  can  obtain  of  land  very  rich  by  nature  more  than  he  can  possibly 
cultivate.  His  labour  being  an  isolated  fraction,  and  being  divided  again  among 
many  employments,  he  must  depend  on  nature  for  more  than  half  the  work. 
Keep  him  isolated,  so  that  none  shall  help  him  nor  he  help  any,  so  that  he  shall 
be  obliged  to  do  for  himself  all  the  many  things  required  by  him  ;  do  this,  and 
prevent  him  from  moving  from  one  piece  of  land  to  another  as  the  natural  fer- 
tility of  each  piece  is  exhausted,  and  the  result  must  be  poverty,  like  that  of  the 
small  French  cultivator  or  Irish  cottier.  "  We  find  all  the  farmers,"  says  Mr. 
Stuart,  "  perfectly  aware  of  the  importance  of  fallow  and  green  crops,  but  gen- 
erally of  opinion  that  they  dare  not  attempt  that  system,  on  account  of  the  high 
price  of  labour  in  this  country  in  relation  to  the  value  of  land  ;  nt  siimplus 
fructum  stipcrct,  according  to  the  sound  advice  of  Varro.  The  price"  [scarcity 
at  any  price]  "  of  labour  too,  is  the  urcat  obstacle  to  all  sorts  of  ornamental  im- 
provements, such  as  the  formation  of  gardens  and  keeping  them  up.n — Vol.  i. 
page  254. 

"  Let   the    settler   be    well   advised,    and    not    acquire    land    which    has    0680 

already  impoverished  by  cropping,  and  winch  has  become  foul  and  lost  the 
vegetable  mould."     Stuart,  vol  i.  page  254. 

'■  When  vmi  talk  to  them  (the  fanners)  of  the  necessity  of  manuring  with  a 
view  to  preserve  the  Fertility  of  the  soil,  they  almost  uniformly  tell  you  that  the 
expense"  [meaning  scarcity  at  whatever  expense]  "of  labour  renders  it  far 
more  expedient  for  them,  as  soon  as  their  repeated  cropping  very  much  dimin- 
iahes  the  quantity  of  i  lie  grain,  to  lay  down  their  land  in  yrass,  or  make  a  pur- 
ol  new  land  in  the  neighbourhood,  or  even  to  sell  their  cleared  land  and 
/  in   qui  St  t'l  'i  iii  W  S(  It"  /in  ill,  than  to  adopt  a  system  of  rotation  of  crops 

i  rj  i'\  manure.     There  is  urcat  inconvenience,  according  to  the  notions  of 

the  British,  in   removing  from  i  farm  to  another;  hut  they  make  very  light 

id  consider  it  to  In'  merely  a  question  of  finance,  whether  they 
ihall  remain  mi  then  improved  land,  after  having  considerably  exhaust  I  iii 
acquirt  and  remove  to  Uu  »  *ot/."— iS/uar/,  vol.  i.  p. 

"  If  bi  ad  near  his  first  farm  after  he  hat  worn  it Ott/."-— Stuart,  vol.  ii. 

page  359. 


OF    SLAVERY    IN    AMERICA.  223 

responding  cry  of  slaves.  If  the  white  population  of  America 
were  to  be  doubled  every  five  years,  instead  of  five-and -twenty 
years,  the  population  of  the  slave  states,  where  slave-owners 
own  land,  would  not  become  sufficiently  dense  to  raise  the 
value  of  land,  and  lower  the  value  of  slaves. 

Superabundance  of  good  land  !  If  we  have  ascertained  the 
cause  of  slavery  in  America,  a  little  declamation  on  the  subject 
may  be  allowed.  The  white  Americans,  speaking  generally, 
would  rejoice  to  get  rid  of  slavery.  They  are  men  with  the 
feelings  of  men  ;  they  can  feel  compassion  and  fear ;  they  do 
pity  their  miserable  slaves,  and  they  hear  the  not  far  distant 
thunder,  which  threatens  to  steep  half  the  Union  in  blood,  and 
to  ruin  the  other  half.  A  successful  rebellion  of  the  slaves 
would  more  or  less  affect  every  white  man  in  America,  by 
causing  a  total  revolution  in  all  the  markets  for  the  produce  of 
every  kind  of  industry ;  and  this  the  Americans  jn  general 
know  full  well.  Knowing  this,  they  must  also  know  what  is 
the  cause  of  slavery.  Have  they  ever  inquired  whether  it  is 
possible  to  remove  that  most  evil  cause  ?  They  cannot  alter 
the  proportion  between  people  and  land  in  America  ;  but  the 
proportion  between  people  and  land  with  a  good  title  to  it,  is 
within  their  control.  It  is  not  often  in  America  that  any  one 
uses  land  without  a  title  ;  and  this  might  easily  be  prevented 
altogether.  The  title  to  new  land  is  given  by  the  government. 
The  government,  therefore,  or  the  people  acting  upon  their 
government,  are  able  to  regulate  the  proportion  between  num- 
bers and  acres  of  appropriated  land.  In  the  colonies  of  old 
that  proportion  depended  on  a  thousand  caprices,  on  the  whims 
of  an  English  king,  of  his  colonial  minister,  of  the  minister's 
clerks  or  parasites,  on  the  colonial  governors,  their  clerks  and 
parasites ;  all  of  whom  bestowed  grants  of  land  pretty  much; 
as  it  pleased  them ;  but  in  the  United  States,  which  have 
adopted  a  system  nearly  uniform  in  the  disposal  of  new  land, 
the  proportion  between  numbers  and  acres  depends  on  the 
price  per  acre  which  Congress  thinks  fit  to  require  for  all  new* 
land.  The  actual  price  is  about  five  shillings  per  acre  ;  and  the 
sale  of  new  land  at  this  price  yields  near  700,000/.  a  year. 
That  amount  of  revenue  is  employed  for  the  general  purposes 
of  government.  If  it  were  employed  in  conducting  pauper 
emigration  from  Europe,  it  would  convey  every  year  to  the 
United  States  80,000  persons  of  the  labouring  class ;  more 
than  the  yearly  increase  of  slaves.  If  the  price  for  new  land 
were  raised,  so  as  to  prevent,  those  labourers  from  becoming 
independent  land-owners  until  others  had  followed  to  take  their 
place  ;  if  the  fund  obtained  by  the  sale  of  new  land  should 
thus  become  greater  every  year,  and  should  always  be  em- 
ployed in  fetching  labour  from  Europe  ;  if  by  this  increase  in 


2*24  APOLOGY    FOR    THE    AMERICAN'    TARIFF. 

the  price  of  new  land,  and  this  immigration  of  labour,  the  peo- 
ple were  less  dispersed  than  they  are,  should  help  each  other 
more,  should  produce  more  with  the  same  labour,  should  have 
a  higher  rate  of  profit  and  a  higher  rate  of  wages;  if,  finally,  a 
greater  proportion  of  people  to  land  in  the  states  already  set- 
tled, should  raise  the  value  of  land  by  means  of  all  kinds  of 
competition,  over  and  above  competition  for  superior  natural 
fertility,  then  might  free  labour  take  the  place  of  slave  labour, 
then  might  the  owners  of  slaves  and  of  land  set  free  their  slaves 
without  loss,  then  miiiht  slavery  be  abolished  without  injury  to 
anyone,  with  the  greatest  benefit  to  all.  By  means  of  some 
plan  of  this  kind,  and  by  no  other  means,  does  it  seem  possible 
that  slavery  in  America  should  be  peacefully  and  happily  abol- 
ished. Those  Americans  who  would  not  prefer  Jefferson's 
thunder,  may,  I  trust,  think  it  worth  their  while  to  examine  this 
subject  further  in  a  subsequent  note  on  the  Art  of  Colonizatiosi. 


NOTE  XI. 

APOLOGY    FOR    THE    AMERICAN    TARIFF. 

Opinions  of  Englishmen  respecting  the  tariff — Moral  advantages  of  the  tariff — 
Economical  advantages  of  the  tariff — Difference  of  feeling  between  the 
Southern  and  Northern  States  respecting  the  tariff — The  tariff  good,  upon 
the  whole,  for  the  people  of  America,  and  therefore  a  work  becoming  demo- 
cratic government — When  the  tarill"  may  be  repealed  with  great  advantage 
to  America. 

The  following  passage  from  an  article  in  the  Times  news- 
paper on  the  late  dispute  between  Scuth  Carolina  and  the 
United  States,  describes  fully  the  opinions  which  are  prevalent 
in  England  on  the  subject  of  the  American  tariff.  "  All  politi- 
cal writers  in  this  country  have  visited  with  censure  the  pres- 
ent policy  of  the  American  general  governm  nt  in  attempting 
by  high  protecting  duties  t<>  force  the  establishment, or  to  en- 
courage the  extension  <>f  manufactures  in  the  United  States. 
With  the  high  pine  of  labour  that  exists  in  the  United  States, 
with  their  scanty  supply  of  moneyed  capital,  with  their  unlimited 
range  of  uncultivated  or  half-improved  soil,  it.  was  almost  a 
<  against  society  to  divert  human  industry  from  the  fields; 
and  tl  <•  forests  to  iron  forges  and  cotton  factories.     Nature1  had 

f pointed  out  the  course  which  they  oughl  to  pursue  for  perhaps 
ialf  a  century  to  come,  till  the  plough  and  the  spade  had  fol- 
lowed tin:  axe  of  the  woodcutter  into  their  'primeval  wilder- 
uesses  of  shade,"  and  till  happy  plantations  had  been  formed  on 


APOLOGY    roil    THE   AMERICAN    TARIFF.  225 

the  deserted  domains  of  the  Indian  huntsman,  from  the  Atlan- 
tic to  the  Ohio,  and  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific.  She 
had  directed  them  to  cling  to  the  bosom  of  mother  earth  as  to 
the  most  fertile  source  of  wealth  and  the  most  abundant  reward 
of  labour.  She  had  told  them  to  remain  planters,  farmers,  and 
wood-cutters — to  extend  society  and  cultivation  to  new  regions 
— to  practise  and  improve  the  arts  of  the  builder,  the  carpen- 
ter, and  the  naval  architect ;  to  facilitate  every  means  of  inter- 
nal communication — to  promote  every  branch  of  internal  trade 
— to  encourage  every  variety  of  landed  produce — but  not  to 
waste  the  energies  of  their  labour,  or  1o  interrupt  the  course  of 
their  prosperity,  by  forcing  at  home  the  manufacture  of  arti- 
cles which  foreigners  could  supply  at  half  the  price  for  which 
they  could  be  made  in  America." 

Englishmen  who  lean  to  democratic  opinions  are,  most  of 
them,  if  well-informed,  advocates  of  free  trade.  To  these  the 
American  tariff  is  a  very  sore  subject.  If  let  alone  they  would 
say  nothing  about  it ;  and  as  it  is  they  do  not  say  much.  But 
they  are  not  let  alone.  The  conservatives  place  them  in  this 
dilemma — If,  say  those  friends  of  the  old  commercial  system, 
as  of  every  thing  old  ;  if  democratic  government  be  good  for 
a  people,  conducive  to  the  benefit  of  all,  and  so  forth,  then  pro- 
tection of  domestic  industry  is  for  the  public  good,  since  the 
American  tariff  was  established  by  a  democracy ;  not  pre- 
served, mind,  but  begun  and  brought  to  perfection,  deliberately, 
carefully,  and  in  spite  of  arguments  to  the  contrary  :  if,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  exclusion  of  foreign  goods  be  hurtful  to  a  peo- 
ple, what  becomes  of  your  government  by  all  for  the  benefit  of 
all  ?  In  this  case,  you  cannot  defend  both  free  trade  and  de- 
mocracy ;  which  do  you  give  up? 

The  question  is  galling  to  an  English  liberal,  puzzles,  and 
therefore  irritates  him.  Hang  the  Americans  with  their  tariff, 
one  hears  such  a  one  complain,  their  stupidity  is  unaccounta- 
ble. Another,  admitting  the  stupidity,  lays  the  blame  on  those 
governments  of  Europe  which  have  set  the  Americans  a  bad 
example  ;  as  if  precedent  were  an  excuse  for  indulging  mean 
and  malignant  passions.  These  terms  are  applicable  to  the 
grasping,  selfish,  and  jealous  spirit  which  dictated  the  commer- 
cial system  of  Europe  ;  but  they  are  quite  inapplicable  to  those 
who  established  the  American  tariff;  as  I  will  now  endeavour 
to  prove,  by  showing  that  a  prohibitory  system  is,  upon  the 
whole,  useful  to  the  people  of  America,  and  therefore  a  work 
becoming  democratic  government. 

One  motive  with  some  supporters  of  the  English  corn-laws 
is  a  fear  lest  the  free  importation  of  cheap  corn  should  cause  a 
great  increase  of  town  population  ;  artisans,  living  together, 
talkers,  readers  of  newspapers,  intelligent,  given  to  politics,  un- 

29 


226  APOLOGY    FOR    THE    AMERICAN*    TARIFF. 

manageable,  radical ;  "  fierce  democrats."  If,  say  they,  you 
sacrifice  the  agricultural  to  the  manufacturing  and  commer- 
cial interests,  the  glory  of  England  will  pass  away  ;  mean- 
ing, if  you  repeal  the  corn-laws,  the  number  of  our  stupid  coun- 
try paupers  will  perhaps  be  less,  while  the  number  of  knowing 
people,  living  in  towns,  independent  of  us,  will  surely  be 
greater.  No  doubt  but  the  free  importation  of  cheap  manu- 
factured goods  would  have  a  contrary,  a  precisely  opposite 
effect  in  America ;  that  is,  would  cause  a  decrease  of  town 
population  and  an  increase  of  rural  population.  If  English 
manufactured  goods  were  let  into  the  United  States  duty  free, 
that  portion  of  the  capital  and  labour  of  America  which  is  now 
employed  in  making  goods  of  that  kind,  would  be  devoted  to 
agriculture.  Upon  this  point  there  can  be  no  dispute.  Let  us 
further  admit,  that  the  Americans  might  obtain  better  and 
cheaper  manufactured  goods  by  raising  corn  for  the  English 
market  than  by  making  such  goods  themselves ;  just  as  the 
English  might  obtain  better  and  cheaper  corn  with  steam  en- 
gines than  with  ploughs.  If  so,  the  Americans  lose  by  the 
tariff,  speaking  economically ;  but  now  turn  to  the  political  side 
of  the  account. 

Is  it  desirable  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  people 
should  consist  of  husbandmen,  such  as  the  English  term  clod- 
hoppers ;  carth-scratchcrs*  they  ought  to  be  called  in  America? 
Yes,  without  doubt,  provided  this  be  the  only  way  in  which 
every  member  of  the  society  may  obtain  plenty  ;  but  in  Amer- 
ica, profits  and  wages  both  are  so  high,  that  if  an  economical 
sacrifice  for  a  political  gain  be  made,  it  is  not  felt.  Not  being 
felt  it  is  not  a  sacrifice  ;  while  the  gain  is  palpable.  Supposing 
that  American  industry  is  less  productive  than  it  might  be,  still 
it  produces  enough ;  and  in  order  to  make  it  produce  more 
than  enough,  a  great  political  advantage  must  be  sacrificed  ;  the 
advantage  of  so  much  town  population  as  would  have  con- 
sisted of  mere  husbandmen  if  the  tariff  had  not  excluded  for- 
eign manufactured  goods.*)'  In  America,  whatever  tends  to 
keep  |»  ople  together  is  of  inestimable  advantage.  Camp- 
meetings  are  very  useful,  as  they  bring  people  together,  though 

*  "An  English  farmer,"  Bays  Washington,  writing  to  Arthur  Young, 
"  ought  to  bave  a  horrid  idea  <>t  the  state  •>!  our  agriculture,  or  of  the  nature  of 
our  soil,  when  be  ia  informed  that  one  acre  with  us  only  produces  eight  or  tea 
bushels.  Hut  ii  must  be  kepi  in  mind,  thai  where  land  is  t -1 1 •  -:i [ ►  Bnd  labour 
are  fonder  of  cultivating  much  than  cultivating  well. 
Much  ground  has  been  scratched,  and  none  cultivated  as  it  ought  to  be." 

man  told  me  that  the  firs)  child  bora  ;ii  Rochester  (New- York 
i  the  settlement  "i  theplace,  eighteen  >,  was  lii^  son.    The 

pi. nlj  contained  1,000  inhabitants,  and  now  (1828),  about  18,000.     There 

itton  works,  pc  i  r-l is,  woollen  factories,  blhvbh  ploUb  kills,  as 

oa  seven  i  mm  iu.s." — Stuart,  vol.  i ,  pnge  81. 


APOLOGY    FOIt    THE    AMERICAN    TARIFF.  2'27 

but  now  and  then.  The  tariff,  by  inducing  so  many  people  to 
become  manufacturers,  has  prevented  so  many  people  from 
becoming  backwoodsmen;  has  created  and  maintains  so  many 
towns,  with  roads  between  them  ;  has  bestowed  upon  all  the 
people  in  and  near  those  towns  the  great  advantage  of  social 
intercourse  ;  has  checked  emigration  from  old  settlements  to 
the  western  wilderness,  fixing  so  much  population  as  would 
otherwise  have  rolled  on  towards  the  Pacific.  The  tariff,  there- 
fore, counteracts  in  some  degree  the  barbarising  tendency  of 
dispersion  ;  and  for  that  most  useful  quality  is  well  worth  some 
economical  sacrifice,  if  there  be  any. 

I  say,  if  there  be  any ;  for  the  economical  sacrifice  is  not  so 
plain.  Supposing  that  if  there  were  no  tarilT,  the  manufactu- 
rers of  America  would  employ  their  capital  and  labour  in  agri- 
culture, skilfully,  like  the  English,  with  sufficient  combination 
to  obtain  the  greatest  produce  with  the  least  number  of  hands  ; 
in  that  case*  capital  and  labour  being  applied  with  the  utmost 
skill  to  the  very  fertile  soil  of  America,  corn  of  all  kinds  would 
be  raised  so  as  to  be  sold  for  a  lower  price  than  the  lowest  price 
for  which  corn  was  ever  sold  ;  and  in  this  way  the  Americans 
would  obtain  from  the  English  (the  English  tariff  being  re- 
pealed), the  cheapest  manufactured  goods.  Under  that  sup- 
position the  economical  loss  resulting  from  the  tariff  might  be 
reckoned  very  great.  But  capital  and  labour  would  not  be  so 
applied  to  the  soil  of  America.  Judging,  at  least,  from  all  ex- 
perience, the  capital  and  labour  which  were  diverted  from 
manufactures  to  agriculture  would,  because  it  was  agriculture, 
because  land  teas  in  the  case,  be  divided  into  small  separate 
parts,  and  employed  in  the  least  skilful  manner,  trusting  for  little 
to  skill,  to  nature  for  much,*  and  obtaining,  even  with  that  most 
generous  nature,  but  a  small  produce  in  proportion  to  the  num- 

*  "  All  the  unburnt  new  lands  in  the  northern,  middle,  southern,  and  west- 
ern states  have  been,  and  still  are,  uniformly  valued  beyond  their  real  worth. 
When  the  tract  on  the  Green  Mountains  of  Massachusetts  was  first  settled,  the 
same  luxuriant  fertility  was  attributed  to  it  which  has  since  characterized  Ken- 
tucky. About  the  same  time  it  was  ascribed  to  the  valley  of  Housatonnuc  in 
the  county  of  Berkshire.  From  these  tracts  it  was  transferred  to  the  lands  in 
New-Hampshire  and  Vermont,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Green  Mountains. 
From  these  regions  the  paradise  lias  travelled  to  the  western  part  of  the  State  of 
New-York,  to  New-Connecticut,  to  Upper  Canada,  to  the  countries  on  the  Ohio, 
to  the  south-western  territory,  and  is  now  making  its  progress  over  the  Missis- 
sippi into  the  newly  purchased  regions  of  Louisiana.  The  accounts  given  of 
all  these  countries  successively  was  extensively  true  ;  but  the  conclusions  which 
icerc  deducted  from,  them  were  in  a  great  measure  erroneous.  So  long  as  this 
■mould  remains,  the  'produce  will  regularly  be  \  hat  with  very  imperfect 

cultivation  ;  but  this  mould,  after  a  length  of  time,  will  he  dissipated  ;  where  lands 
are  continually  ploughed  it  is  soon  lost  ;  on  those  which  are  covered  with  grass 
from  the  beginning,  it  is  preserved  through  a  considerable  period.  At  length, 
however,  every  appearance  of  its  efficacy,  and  even  of  its  existence,  vanishes." 
— Dr.  Dwight — quoted  by  Stuart,  vol.  i.,  page  264. 


228  APOLOGY    FOR   THE    AMERICAN    TARIFF. 

ber  of  hands  employed  ;  just  as  in  America,  capital  and  labour 
(slaves  excepted)  are  now  employed  in  agriculture.  In  this 
case,  many  who  do  now  obtain  plenty  of  manufactured  goods, 
though  dear,  might  not  be  able  to  obtain  any  at  whatever  price. 
The  tariff,  besides,  is  an  act  of  combination  ;  an  agreement 
among  the  people  for  distribution  of  employments.  Those 
farmers  for  whom  the  tariff,  by  creating  towns,  has  created 
markets*  near  to  their  own  farms,  would,  by  a  repeal  of  the 
tariff',  lose  those  markets,  and  must  convey  their  net  produce  to 
more  distant  markets,  if  such  there  were,  and  if  the  cost  of 
such  longer  conveyance  did  not  deter  them  from  raising  food 
for  market.  Either  then  their  industry  would  be  less  product- 
ive, the  cost  of  its  produce  at  market  being  greater ;  or  they 
would  be  less  industrious,  like  hundreds  of  thousands  of  settlers 
far  away  from  a  market  for  net  produce,  who  loiter  away  one 
half  of  their  time,  and  waste  a  good  deal  of  the  other  half  by 
dividing  their  labour  among  several  employments.  Division  of 
employments,  says  Adam  Smith,  meaning  the  reverse  of  di- 
vision of  labour,  is  limited  by  the  extent  of  the  market ;  he 
might  have  added,  and  so  is  industry  itself,  f  Each  manufac- 
turer then,  and  each  of  those  farmers  who  now  live  near  to  a 
town,  becoming  isolated  cultivators,  without  a  motive  for  rais- 
ing more  than  should  supply  their  own  wants,  would  soon  be 
contented  with  a  rude  house,  coarse  food,  and  rough  clothes  as 
necessaries,  with  tobacco,  rum,  a  rifle,  and  ammunition  as  lux- 
uries. This  does  nearly  always  happen  to  those,  who  impelled 
by  a  spirit  of  adventure  settle  far  away  from  any  market.  In 
this  way  the  American  demand  for  manufactured  goods  would 
be  less,  the  wants  of  so  many  people  would  decrease,  and  the 
sum  total  of  things  useful  or  agreeable  to  man  enjoyed  in  Amer- 
ica would  be  less  ;  a  loss,  economically  speaking,  or  I  have  yet 

*   "lie    (a  farmer    near  Springfield    in    Illinois)    has    advantages,  too,    in 
point  of  situation,  being  nearer  to  the  Galena  lead  vines,  to  which  be  las)  year 
sold  8,000  wooden  posts  at  three  dollars  per  hundred.     He  had  been  in  Scot- 
land; but  there  v  I  in  that  countrj  to  be  compared  (he  said),  to  that  of 
hie  farm.     Finding  him  so  much  disposed  to  |>r;iis<>,  I  asked  him  how  be  w  as  off 
jwer  was  marked  ;  'you  have  hit  the  nail  on  the  head — it 
is  dili'.                          iii-  here,  aad  more  difficult  to  get  good  ones.1  " — Stuart, 
vol.  ii  . 
f««The   power  "i  exchanging  is  the  vivifying  principle  of  industry.      It 
dates  agriculturists  to  adopt  tht  best  systi  atum,  and  to  raise  the 
ii  enables  them  to  exchange  whatever  .portion  of  the 
produce  ol  their  lands  exceeds  their  own  consumption!  for  other  commodities 
conducive  to  their  comforts  or  enjoyments ;  and  it  equally  stimulates  manufac- 
to  improve  the  quantity  and  variety  of  their  goods,  that  they  may  therebj 
bled  i"  ol  tain  a  greater  quantity  of  r;m  produce.     A  spirit  of  industry 
ix  thus  universally  diffused  ;  ana  thai  apathy  and  languor,  which  arc  character- 
irtic  of  b   rude   state  ol  society,  entirely  disappear.  -    Professor  AFCulloch's 
n  of  Smith1                   Nations.     Ifott  19,  vol.  n  ,  page  Vt  1. 


APOLOGY    FOR    THE    AMERICAN    TARIFF.  229 

to  learn  the  alphabet  of  political  economy.  The  loss,  morally 
or  politically  speaking,  need  not  be  mentioned  again. 

But,  an  English  economist  may  ask,  why  should  not  the 
Americans  combine  with  the  English  for  a  division  of  employ- 
ments, between  the  two  nations,  which  would  be  equally  useful 
to  both  parties  ?  Because,  I  answer,  general  combination  of 
power,  which  leads  to  general  division  of  employments,  is  use- 
less, or  rather  impossible,  without  combination  of  capital  and 
labour,  and  division  of  employments  in  particular  works.  Ex- 
change to  any  great  extent  cannot  take  place  unless  two  parties 
raise  a  surplus  produce,  unless  the  produce  of  both  parties  be 
great  in  proportion  to  the  hands  employed  ;  and  in  America 
particular  combination  of  power,  with  particular  division  of 
employments,  will  not  take  place  so  long  as  any  quantity  of 
good  land  may  be  obtained  by  anybody  for  the  low  price  of 
five  shillings  per  acre.  Evils  resulting  from  the  very  low  price 
of  waste  land  meet  one  at  every  turn  in  America. 

With  slaves,  however,  this  particular  combination  of  capital 
and  labour  is  possible  in  America.  The  whites  of  the  southern 
states  are  able  to  raise  cheap  commodities ;  much,  that  is,  in 
proportion  to  the  hands  employed  ;  commodities  which  being 
cheap  would  be  exchangeable  in  the  English  market.  To  the 
whites  of  the  southern  states,  therefore,  the  tariff  is  injurious, 
limiting  their  foreign  market  for  the  sale  of  corn,  rice,  tobacco, 
cotton,  and  sugar.  This  accounts  for  their  dislike  of  the  tariff. 
But  the  northern  states,  wanting  slaves,  want  besides  those 
southern  markets  which  slavery  and  the  tariff  combined  pro- 
vide for  the  various  products  of  their  industry,  other  markets, 
nearer  to  their  own  particular  works  ;  a  demand  for  the  pro- 
duce of  much  divided  capital  and  labour,  for  dear  commodities 
which  wouid  not  bear  the  cost  of  conveyance  to  very  distant 
markets  ;*  and  this  want  of  domestic  markets  is  to  some  extent 

*  "  Potatoes,  turnips,  ruta-baga,  peas,  lucern,  &c,  are  all  to  be  seen  here 
(New-York  state),  in  small  quantities,  but  not  so  well  managed  as  in  well  cul- 
tivated districts  of  Britain.  The  high  price  [scarcity]  of  labour  is  the  great 
obstacle  to  the  management  which  those  crops  require.  It  is  not  because  the 
farmer  does  not  understand,  his  business  that  such  crops  are  apparently  not  suffi- 
ciently attended  to,  but  because  he,  in  all  cases,  calculates  whether  it  will  not 
be  more  profitable  fur  him  to  remove  his  establishment  to  a  new  and  hitherto 
unimpoverished  soil,  than  to  commence  and  carry  on  an  extensive  system  of 
cultivation  by  manuring,  and  fallow,  or  green  crops.  Such  a  system  may  be 
adopted  in  the  neighbourhood  of  great  totems,  where  many  green  crops  are  easily 
disposed  of,  and  where  manure  can  be  had  in  large  quantities  and  at  a  cheap 
rate  ;  but  it  is  in  vain  to  look  for  its  adoption  generally,  or  to  expect  to  see 
agricultural  operations  in  their  best  style  until  the  land  even  in  the  most  distant 
states  and  territories  be  occupied,  so  that  the  farmer  may  no  longer  find  it  more 
for  his  interest  to  begin  his  operations  anew,  on  land  previously  uncultivated, 
than  to  ma  i  n  according  to  the  method  ichich  will  render  it  mosi  pro- 

ductive." *  *  •■  From  what  I  have  been  told,  I  suspect  it  will  be   found 

that,  after  the  effect  of  the  vegetable  matter  on  the  surface  of  the  land  cleared, 


230  APOLOGY   FOR   THE    AMERICAN    TARIFF. 

supplied  by  the  tariff.  The  affection  of  the  northern  states  for 
the  tariff  is  thus  fully  explained.  As  in  the  southern  states 
slavery,  so  in  the  northern  states  the  tariff,  is  an  expedient,  a 
shift,  for  correcting  the  mischievous  influence  of  dispersion. 

Well  then,  it  may  be  said,  if  the  two  divisions  of  the  union 
have  such  different  interests,  in  consequence  of  the  difference 
between  their  respective  shifts  for  correcting  the  mischievous 
influence  of  dispersion,  why  should  they  not  have  separate 
governments,  a  northern  and  a  southern  union  ;  one  with,  and 
the  other  without  a  tariff?  For  several  reasons.  First,  be- 
cause the  expedient  of  the  south  is  useful  to  the  north,  pro- 
viding extensive,  though  distant  markets  for  the  products  of 
northern  industry, — for  the  manufactures,  ships,  steamboats, 
cattle,  and  very  many  things  besides,  which  are  produced  in  the 
states  that  forbid  slavery,  which  would  not  be  produced  if 
there  were  no  demand  for  them,  and  for  which  there  would  be 
less  demand  if  the  southern  states,  having  free  trade,  should 
buy  what  they  required  in  the  cheapest  market  they  could  any- 
where find.*  Secondly,  because  the  special  expedient  of  the 
south  could  not  be  maintained  without  assistance  from  the 
north  ;  the  force  of  the  whole  union  being  required  to  preserve 
slavery,  to  keep  down  the  slaves.  If  the  southern  states,  urged 
by  hatred  of  the  tariff,  should  declare  themselves  independent, 
they  would  presently  lose  that  power  of  raising  exchangeable 
commodities  which  is  the  groundwork  of  their  dislike  to  the 
tariff.  Losing  their  slaves,  they  too,  like  the  northern  states, 
would  want  a  tariff  to  counteract  dispersion,  to  preserve  some 
combination  of  capital  and  labour,  and  some  division  of  em- 
ployments ;  or,  at  the  least,  to  create  domestic  markets  ;  a  de- 
mand for  the  produce  of  scattered  capital  and  labour.  Give 
and  take,  live  and  let  live,  is  a  maxim  everywhere  understood. 
In  order  to  preserve  their  own  special  expedient,  slavery,  the 
southern  states  must  put  up  with  the  special  expedient  of  the 
northern  states,  which  is  the  tariff.  Upon  the  whole,  therefore, 
the  tariff  appears  useful  to  the  people  of  America  ;  and,  as  the 
people  of  America  govern  themselves  for  their  own  good,  it 
will  not  probably  be  repealed,  though  it  may  be  altered  in 
various  ways,  until  the  price  of  land  shall  rise  considerably 
through  the  increase  of  people  a  century  hence,  or  earlier  by 

is  at  an  end,  tin'  average  crops  of  all  sorts  of  grain  are,  according  to  the  pre- 
vailing system  of  management  in  this  state,  a  half,  or  nearly  a  half,  less  than  on 
oil  i  ■■  l',  ,/,,■  i  i.'1  Sin ■"  /,  \ •  ill  i,  page  1 62. 
•  Mr.  stuart,  speaking  ol  s  district  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  says,  "  There  is 
never  an]  want  of  a  market.  Every  thing  is  bought  by  /the  merchants  for  New* 
Orleans  or  for  Galena,  where  a  vast  dumber  of  workmen  are  congregated,  who 
are  employed  in  the  lead  mines  <'n  the  north-western  parts  of  tins  state." 
New-Orlearj  at  market,  because  of  slavery  ;  Galena,  because  of  the 

tariff 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  231 

the  will  of  the  people,  who  can  put  what  price  they  please 
upon  grants  in  the  desert.  If  the  price  of  new  land  were 
such  that  free  labour  should  always  be  obtainable  for  combina- 
tion in  farming,  then,  with  a  greater  produce  from  capital  and 
labour,  with  higher  profits  and  higher  wages,  the  Americans 
would  raise  cheaper  corn  than  has  ever  been  raised ;  and,  no 
longer  wanting  a  tariff,  might  drive  with  the  manufacturers  of 
England  the  greatest  trade  ever  known  in  the  world. 


NOTE  XII. 

THE    ART   OF    COLONIZATION. 

Introduction — Nature  and  limits  of  the  subject — The  ends  of  colonization  as 
respects  the  mother-country — The  extension  of  markets — Relief  from  ex- 
cessive numbers — Enlargement  of  the  field  for  employing  capital — Ends  of 
colonization  as  respects  the  colony — The  means  of  colonization — The  dis- 
posal of  waste  land — The  removal  of  people — Co-operation  of  the  mother- 
country — The  foundation  of  colonies — The  government  of  colonies. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Considering  that  the  world  has  been  peopled  by  the  re- 
moval of  people  from  old  societies  to  settle  in  new  places,  and 
that  the  large  portion  of  the  earth  which  is  still  a  desert  will 
probably  become  inhabited  by  the  same  means,  but  certainly 
by  no  other  means  ;  seeing,  therefore,  that  the  art  of  coloniza- 
tion is  one  of  vast  importance  to  mankind,  it  does  appear 
strange  that  this  subject  should  not  have  been  thoroughly  ex- 
amined by  any  writer  on  political  economy.  Under  the  head 
of  Colonies  we  have,  indeed,  many  treatises ;  but  not  one,  as 
far  as  I  know,  in  which  the  ends  and  means  of  colonization 
have  been  fully  described,  or  even  noticed,  with  so  much  as  a 
show  of  method  and  accuracy.  Of  those  treatises,  some  are 
confined  to  a  mere  history  of  the  Greek  colonies  ;  while  in 
others,  which  profess  to  embrace  the  whole  subject  of  colonial 
policy,  not  only  is  the  subject  examined  superficially  and  care- 
lessly, but  whenever  the  writer  appears  to  be  in  earnest,  he 
either  dwells  on  points  which  are  foreign  to  the  matter  in  hand, 
or  mixes  the  plainest  misstatements  of  facts  with  the  o-rossest 
errors  of  reasoning.  Two  examples  will  suffice  to  prove  this 
assertion. 

Professor  M'Culloch,  in  a  note  appended  to  Adam  Smith's 
chapter  on  the  "  Foundation  of  Colonies,"  after  yiving  a  list  of 
works  on  colonial  policy,  says,  "  The  article  Colony,  in  the 


232  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

Supplement  to  the  Encyclopedia  Britunnica,  written  by  Mr. 
Mill,  is  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  recent  disquisitions  on  the  sub- 
ject." A  most  able  disquisition  it  is  truly,  on  several  subjects, 
but  not  on  colonization.  It  contains  the  shortest  and  clearest 
explanation  ever  given  of  the  symptoms  of  poverty  in  old 
countries  ;  some  very  good  reasons  why  transportation  is  a 
very  bad  mode  of  punishing  criminals,  and  some  very  conclu- 
sive arguments  against  commercial  restrictions  and  bounties; 
but  of  colonization,  its  objects  and  means,  Mr.  Mill  says  next 
to  nothing.  He  says,  indeed,  that  "colonization,  with  a  view 
to  the  relief  of  the  mother-country  by  a  diminution  of  num- 
bers, deserves  profound  regard  ;"  and  then  proceeds  to  recom- 
mend, as  "  the  best  means  of  checking  the  progress  of  popula- 
tion," that  "  the  superstitions  of  the  nursery  should  be  dis- 
carded," in  order  to  the  adoption  of  a  physical  check  to  the 
procreation  of  children.  Returning  to  colonization  with  a  view 
to  relief  from  excessive  numbers,  he  disposes  of  the  whole  sub- 
ject in  a  few  lines ;  saying,  that  on  two  conditions,  but  not 
otherwise,  "  a  body  of  people  may  be  advantageously  removed 
from  one  country  for  the  purpose  of  colonizing  another;" 
when,  first,  "  the  land  which  they  are  about  to  occupy  should 
be  capable  of  yielding  a  greater  return  to  their  labour  than  the 
land  which  they  leave;"  and  secondly,  "when  the  expense  of 
removal  from  the  mother  country  to  the  colony,  which  is 
usually  created  by  distance,  should  not  be  too  great."  This  is 
all.  The  "  Conclusion'"  of  Mr.  Mill's  essay,  accounts  for  his 
having  been  content  with  uttering  a  pair  of  mere  truisms  on  a 
subject  which,  he  says,  deserves  profound  regard.  Here  he 
asserts  the  "  tendency  of  colonial  possessions  to  produce  or 
prolong  bad  government,"  and  emphatically  condemns  coloniza- 
tion as  a  fruitful  source  of  jobs,  monopolies,  and  wars.  Be  it 
so  ;  but  is  this  the  only  matter  of  bad  government  ?  would 
there  have  been  no  wars,  monopolies,  or  jobs,  without  colonies? 
is  every  thing  bad,  including  the  wealth  of  nations,  which  has 
formed  the  matter  of  jobs,  monopolies,  and  wars?  are  we  to 
regret  the  existence  of  the  United  States  because  they  were 
not  founded  without  some  great  evils?  has  not  colonization 
been  a  source  of  much  good,  as  well  as  of  some  harm  to  man- 
kind I  may  not  the  evils  be  avoided  in  future,  more  good  than 
ever  being  obtained  '  i>  there  not  in  the  founding  of  new  slates, 
;i>  in  the  government  of  old  ones,  a  way  of  proceeding  better 
than  all  the  others  f  ll  Mr.  Mill  had  asked  himself  these  ques- 
tions before  he  wrote  on  colonies,  his  essay  would  probably 
have   deserved    Mr.  M'Culloch's  adniir.it ion.      In  that    case  he 

would  have  told  us  something,  at  least,  about  the  United  Slates, 
which  still  receive  from  other  countries,  and  pour  forth  to  re- 
claim the  wilderness,  great  streams  of  population;  about  the 


THE    ART    OP   COLONIZATION.  233 

ihfluence  of  this  gradual  increase  of  land  in  proportion  to  the 
increase  of  people,  in  rendering  a  people  fit  to  enjoy  self-gov- 
ernment or  democratic  institutions  ;  about  the  increased  enjoy- 
ments of  Europe,  arising  from  the  discovery  of  new  produc- 
tions in  her  colonies;  about  the  stimulus  given  to  European 
industry  and  skill  by  the  formation  of  new  markets  ;  about  the 
reasons  why,  since  the  time  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  at  least, 
colonization   has  not  been   made   useful  for  relieving  an  old 

\  o 

country  from  excessive  numbers  ;  and  perhaps,  about  the  best 
means  of  reclaiming  desert  countries  with  that  all-important 
object.  As  it  is,  his  essay  may  be  called  a  treatise,  and  a  very 
able  one,  on  population,  punishment,  monopolies,  and  patron- 
age, with  a  few  careless  remarks  on  colonization. 

Adam  Smith  has  written  at  great  length  on  Colonies,  but  not 
with  much  more  care  than  Mr.  Mill  ;  as  the  reader  will  per- 
ceive who  shall  take  the  trouble  to  examine  the  following  state- 
ment of  "the  Causes  of  the  Prosperity  of  New  Colonies."* 

"  The  colony  of  a  civilized  nation  which  takes  possession 
either  of  a  waste  country,  or  of  one  so  thinly  inhabited  that 
the  natives  easily  give  place  to  the  new  settlers,  advances  more 
rapidly  to  wealth  and  greatness  than  any  other  human  society." 

This  assertion  does  not  rest  on  facts.  Some  few  new  colo- 
nies have  advanced  very  rapidly  in  population  ;  but  scarce  any 
have  advanced  rapidly  to  wealth  and  greatness  ;  while,  as  I 
have  had  occasion  to  observe  before,  the  greater  number  of 
colonies  have  perished,  or  at  least  have  remained  for  a  long 
while  less  prosperous  and  civilized  than  their  mother-countries. 
Among  bodies  of  people  who  take  possession  of  a  waste  coun- 
try, the  general  rule  seems  to  be,  very  slow  progress  towards 
wealth  and  greatness,  with  an  exception  now  and  then.  The 
exceptions  are  not  very  striking.  The  only  exceptions  that 
strike  one  at  all  are  the  United  States,  Upper  Canada  (for 
Lower  Canada  was  never  a  prosperous  colony),  and  the  penal 
settlements  of  the  English  in  Australia.  An  increase  of  popu- 
lation, taken  by  itself,  proves  nothing ;  since  in  Ireland,  one  of 
the  most  miserable  countries  in  Europe,  people  have  increased 
of  late  years  almost  as  fast  as  in  the  United  States.  The  pro- 
gress of  the  United  States  in  wealth,  since  they  became  inde- 
pendent, has  not  been  nearly  so  great  as  that  of  England  during 
the  same  period.  No  one  pretends  that  the  settlers  of  Upper 
Canada  are  a  wealthy  people  ;  and  their  prosperity,  such  as  it  is, 
seems  to  be  owing  mainly  to  an  amount  of  immigration,  both  of 
capital  and  people,  from  a  rich  old  country,  far  greater  than 
ever  occurred  before  in  the  history  of  colonization.     As  for  the 

*  See  Professor  M'Culloch's  Edition  of  the  Wealth  of  Nations,  vol.  iirt  pane 
460. 


234  THE    ART   OF    COLOXIZATION. 

penal  settlements  of  the  English  in  Australia,  they  are  societies 
altogether  unnatural  ;  having  been  founded,  and  being  main- 
tained by  the  government  of  England  with  the  produce  of  taxes 
paid  by  the  people  of  England.  Some  persons,  not  convicts, 
are  established  there.  These  the  English  government  supplies 
with  slaves  free  of  prime  cost.  The  convict  labourers,  being 
forced  to  work  in  combination,  raise  more  produce  than  they 
consume.  But  of  what  use  would  be  surplus  produce  without 
a  market  in  which  to  dispose  of  it  ?  Such  a  market  the  Eng- 
lish government  provides  for  the  farmers  of  New'  South  Wales, 
by  maintaining  a  civil  and  military  establishment,  which  costs 
300,000/.  a  year.  The  local  government  buys  the  surplus  pro- 
duce of  the  settlers,  either  with  bills  drawn  on  the  English 
treasury,  or  with  specie  sent  from  the  English  mint.  With 
these  bills  and  this  money  the  settlers  obtain  various  articles  of 
comfort  and  luxury  ;  manufactured  goods  from  England,  wine 
from  Spain  and  France,  sugar  from  the  Isle  of  France,  tobacco 
from  Brazil,  spices  from  the  Indian  archipelago,  and  tea  from 
China.  The  government  first  supplies  the  settlers  with  labour, 
and  then  buys,  with  exchangeable  commodities,  the  surplus 
produce  of  that  labour.  In  this  way  a  great  trade  has  been 
maintained  ;*  great,  that  is,  in  proportion  to  the  people  who 
were  there  to  conduct  it.  That  trade  could  not  but  be  very 
profitable  so  long  as  the  demand  of  the  government  exceeded 
the  supply  of  the  colony  ;  and  this  excess  of  demand  over  sup- 
ply continued  until  lately.  The  high  profits  of  that  trade,  and 
the  high  wages  also,  which  every  free  labourer  who  chose  to 
take  part  in  it  could  obtain,  have  induced  the  colonists  to  keep 
together  ;  while  the  management  of  that  trade  called  for  a  di- 
vision of  employments,  such  as  I  believe  never  occurred  before 
in  any  colony  so  lately  established.  The  unnatural  causes  of 
the  prosperity  of  this  colony  show,  in  a  striking  manner,  that 
new  colonies  in  generalare  not  apt  to  be  prosperous.  The 
only  new  colonies  that  have  been  remarkably  prosperous  arc 
those  of  the  ancient  Greeks.  Here  follows  Adam  Smith's 
statement  of  the  cause  of  their  prosperity. 

"The  colonists  carry  out  with  them  a  knowledge  of  agricul- 
ture and  other  useful  arts,  superior  to  what  can  grow  up  of  its 

•  When  tli«'  English  colonial  minister  boasts  in  parliament  of  the  revenue 
raided  by  duties  "I  customs  in  New-Sooth  Wales,  be  seems  to  forget  that  the 
trade  on  which  those  duties  .'ire  levied  is  nothing  l>m  a  certain  mode  of  expen- 
diture by  the  English  government.  He  might  es  well  boast  <>f  having  got  a 
nsvi  nue  by  taxes  on  the  stone  and  wood  used  in  building  the  palace  ;tt  rimlico. 
A  portion  "I  the  money  which  the  English  paj  for  keeping  convicts  at  New- 
South  Wales,  i-  mad<  to  pass,  and  not  by  a  ver)  indirect  process,  through  the 
bands  of  the  custom-house  officers  at  Sydney  :  whereupon  the  English  colo- 
nial minister,  who  has  :ill  the  patronage  attendant  on  that  distant  and  moat 
costly  jail,  nxclitims, — Here's  a  flourishing  colony  for  you  ! 


TIIE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  235 

own  accord  in  the  course  of  many  centuries  among  savage  and 
barbarous  nations.  They  carry  out  with  them  too  the  habit  of 
subordination,  some  notion  of  the  regular  government  which 
takes  place  in  their  own  country,  of  the  system  of  laws  which 
support  it,  and  of  a  regular  administration  of  justice;  and  they 
naturally  establish  something  of  the  same  kind  in  the  new  set- 
tlement. But  among  savage  and  barbarous  nations,  the  natural 
progress  of  law  and  government  is  still  slower  than  the  natural 
progress  of  arts  after  law  and  government  have  been  so  far 
established  as  is  necessary  for  their  protection.  Every  colonist 
gets  more  land  than  he  can  possibly  cultivate.  He  has  no  rent, 
and  scarce  any  taxes  to  pay.  No  landlord  shares  with  him  in 
its  produce,  and  the  share  of  the  sovereign  is  commonly  but  a 
trifle.  He  has  every  motive  to  render  as  great  as  possible  a 
produce  which  is  thus  to  be  almost  entirely  his  own.  But  his 
land  is  commonly  so  extensive,  that  with  all  his  own  industry, 
and  with  all  the  industry  of  other  people  whom  he  can  get  to 
employ,  he  can  seldom  make  it  produce  the  tenth  part  of  what 
it  is  capable  of  producing.  He  is  eager,  therefore,  to  collect 
labourers  from  all  quarters,  and  to  reward  them  with  the  most 
liberal  wages.  Those  liberal  wages,  joined  to  the  plenty  and 
cheapness  of  land,  soon  make  those  labourers  leave  him,  in 
order  to  become  landlords  themselves,  and  to  reward,  with 
equal  liberality  other  labourers,  who  soon  leave  them  for  the 
same  reason  that  they  left  their  first  master.  The  liberal  re- 
ward of  labour  encourages  marriage.  The  children,  during 
the  tender  years  of  infancy,  are  well  taken  care  of;  and  when 
they  are  grown  up,  the  value  of  their  labour  greatly  overpays 
their  maintenance.  When  arrived  at  maturity,  the  high  price 
of  labour  and  the  low  price  of  land  enable  them  to  establish 
themselves  in  the  same  manner  as  their  fathers  did  before  them. 
In  other  countries,  rent  and  profit  eat  up  wages,  and  the  two 
superior  orders  of  people  oppress  the  inferior  one.  But  in 
new  colonies,  the  interest  of  the  two  superior  orders  obliges 
them  to  treat  the  inferior  one  with  more  generosity  and  hu- 
manity ;  at  least  where  that  inferior  one  is  not  in  a  state  of 
slavery.  Waste  lands  of  the  greatest  natural  fertility  are  to 
be  had  for  a  trifle.  The  increase  of  revenue  which  the  pro- 
prietor, who  is  also  the  undertaker,  expects  from  their  improve- 
ment, constitutes  his  protit ;  which  in  these  circumstances  is 
commonly  very  great.  But  this  great  profit  cannot  be  made 
without  employing  the  labour  of  other  people  in  clearing 
and  cultivating  the  land  ;  and  the  disproportion  between  the 
great  extent  of  the  land  and  the  small  number  of  people,  which 
commonly  takes  place  in  new  colonies,  makes  it  difficult  for 
him  to  get  this  labour.  He  does  not  therefore  dispute  about 
wages,  but  is  willing  to  employ  labour  at  any  price.     The  high 


23G 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 


wages  of  labour  encourage  population.  The  cheapness  and 
plenty  of  good  land  encourage  improvement,  and  enable  the 
proprietor  to  pay  those  high  wages.  In  those  wages  consists 
almost  the  whole  price  of  the  land  :  and  though  they  are  high 
considered  as  the  wages  of  labour,  they  are  low  considered  as 
the  price  of  what  is  so  very  valuable.  What  encourages  the 
progress  of  population  and  improvement  encourages  that  of 
real  wealth  and  greatness.  The  progress  of  many  of  the 
Greek  colonies  towards  wealth  and  greatness,  seems  accord- 
ingly to  have  been  very  rapid.  In  the  course  of  a  century  or 
two,  several  of  them  appear  to  have  rivalled,  and  even  to  have 
surpassed  their  mother  cities.  Syracuse  and  Agrigentum  in 
Sicily,  Tarentum  and  Locri  in  Italy,  Ephesus  and  Miletus  in 
Lesser  Asia,  appear,  by  all  accounts,  to  have  been  at  least  equal 
to  any  of  the  cities  of  ancient  Greece." 

This  passage  contains  a  curious  mixture  of  truth  and  error. 
It  is  the  error  that  concerns  us  here.  With  respect  to  the  colo- 
nies of  Greece,  there  is  not  a  word  of  truth  in  the  whole  pas- 
sage. The  remarkable  prosperity  of  those  colonies  is  attributed 
to  superabundance  or  extreme  cheapness  of  land,  and  todear- 
ness  of  labour,  or  high  wa»es.  But  the  emigrants  from  Greece 
did  not,  most  certainly,  obtain  great  tracts  of  land  over  which 
to  spread  at  will.  There  is  no  instance  of  their  having  ad- 
vanced far  from  the  seashore.  Wherever  they  landed  they 
had  to  displace  warlike  tribes,  who,  abandoning  the  coast  after 
a  struggle,  continued  to  watch  the  intruders,  and  to  confine 
them  within  very  narrow  limits ;  within  a  short  stripe  of  land. 
The  first  occupation  of  a  Greek  colony  seems  to  have  been  to 
build  a  fortress,  into  which  the  whole  body  of  colonists  might 
retire  when  attacked.  Some  of  those  strong  places  became 
very  soon  great  towns ;  but  the  quantity  of  land  required  to 
feed  the  inhabitants  of  one  great  town,  formed,  in  most  cases, 
the  whole  territory  of  a  Greek  colony  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  its  career.  Abundance  and  consequent  cheapness 
of  land,  therefore,  was  not  a  cause  of  the  prosperity  of  the  Greek 
colonies.  In  the  in  xt  place,  clearness  of  labour,  or  high  wages, 
are  terms  winch  emigrants  from  Greece  would  not  have  under- 
stood even.  In  no  Greek  colony  did  anyone  ever  sell  his 
labour  :  or  any  one  pay  wanes,  high  or  low  ;  for  all  the  works 
of  those  societies,  the  cultivation  of  their  small  territory,  the 
building  of  their  houses,  tin1  making  of  their  tools,  clothes,  fur- 
niture, roads,  carriages,  and  ships,  and  also  the  exchanges 
which  took  place  either  within  a  colony,  or  between  a  colony 
and  other  states:  all  these  works,  so  far  as  respects  labour, 
wen  performed  exclusive!)  by  slaves. 

The  account,  therefore,  which  the  father  of  the  English 
economists  has  given  of  the  causes  of  the  prosperity  of  those 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  237 

colonies  whose  prosperity  is  the  most  remarkable,  is  obviously, 
nay,  grossly  incorrect.  From  these  two  examples  of  careless 
writing  about  colonies,  by  the  first  and  the  last  distinguished 
Englishmen  who  have  professed  to  examine  the  subject,  it  may 
be  inferred  that  the  subject  has  never  been  carefully  examined. 
They  are  noticed  by  way  of  apology  for  conducting  this  inquiry 
with  a  degree  of  method,  care,  and  fullness,  which  would  have 
been  pedantic  or  impertinent  if  such  a  course  had  ever  been 
pursued  before. 

NATURE   AND    LIMITS    OF    THE    SUBJECT. 

The  word  colony  is  used  to  express  very  different  ideas.  A 
conquered  nation,  among  whom  the  victors  do  not  settle,  even 
a  mere  factory  for  trade,  has  commonly  been  termed  a  colony  ; 
as,  for  example,  the  English  factories  in  India,  and  the  actual 
dominion  of  the  English  in  that  country.  'Mere  stations,  also, 
for  military  or  trading  purposes,  such  as  Malta  or  Heligoland, 
go  by  the  name  of  colonies.  In  like  manner  the  penal  settle- 
ments, or  distant  jails  of  the  English,  are  superintended  by  their 
colonial  ministers,  and  were  called  colonies  even  when  their 
whole  population  consisted  of  prisoners  and  keepers.  Two 
societies  more  different  than  the  people  of  India  ruled  by  the 
servants  of  a  London  trading  company,  and  the  convicts  of 
New  South  Wales,  before  Englishmen  not  criminals  began  to 
settle  there,  could  not  well  be  imagined.  But  the  difference 
between  the  ideas  often  expressed  by  the  term  colony  is 
matched  by  the  caprice  with  which  that  term  is  used.  The 
settlements  of  the  Greeks  in  Sicily  and  Asia  Minor,  indepen- 
dent states  from  the  beginning,  have  always  been  termed  colo- 
nies :  the  English  settlements  in  America  were  termed  colo- 
nies, though  in  local  matters  they  governed  themselves  from 
the  beginning,  so  long  as  England  monopolized  their  foreign 
trade  and  managed  their  external  relations  ;  but  from  the  time 
when  England  attempted  to  interfere  with  their  domestic  gov- 
ernment, and  happily  lost  both  the  monopoly  of  their  foreign 
trade  and  the  management  of  their  foreign  relations,  they  have 
not  been  reckoned  as  colonies.  According  to  the  loose  way 
in  which  this  term  has  been  used,  it  is  not  dependence  that  con- 
stitutes a  colony  ;  nor  is  it  the  continual  immigration  of  people 
from  distant  places,  since  in  this  respect  the  United  States  sur- 
pass all  other  countries.  In  order  to  express  the  idea  of  a 
society  which  continually  receives  bodies  of  people  from  dis- 
tant places,  and  sends  out  bodies  of  people  to  settle  perma- 
nently in  new  places,  no  distinctive  term  has  yet  been  used. 
This,  however,  is  the  idea  which  will  be  expressed  whenever 
the  term  colony  is  used  here ;  the  idea  of  a  society  at  once 


238  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

immigrating  and  emigrating,  such  as  the  United  States  of 
America  and  the  English  settlements  in  Canada,  South  Africa, 
and  Australia. 

For  the  existence  of  a  colony  two  things  are  indispensable  ; 
first,  waste  land,  that  is,  land  not  yet  the  property  of  individu- 
als, but  liable  to  become  so  through  the  intervention  of  govern- 
ment ;  and  secondly,  the  migration  of  people  ;  the  removal  of 
people  to  settle  in  a  new  place.  Further,  it  will  be  seen  at 
once,  that  this  migration  must  be  of  two  kinds ;  first,  the  re- 
moval of  people  from  an  old  to  a  new  country;  secondly,  the 
removal  of  people  from  a  settled  part  to  a  waste  part  of  the 
colony.  Colonization,  then,  signifies  the  removal  of  people 
from  an  old  to  a  new  country,  and  the  settlement  of  people  on 
the  waste  land  of  the  new  country.  As  in  this  there  is  more 
to  be  done  than  to  be  learned,  this  is  an  art  rather  than  a 
science.  In  every  art  the  means  to  be  employed  ought  to  be 
regulated  strictly  by  the  ends  in  view.  The  first  point,  there- 
fore, in  this  inquiry,  is  the  ends  of  colonization. 

Two  very  different  societies  may  have  a  common  interest  in 
colonization,  though  with  objects  widely  different  in  some  re- 
spects. The  English,  for  example,  may  have  a  deep  interest 
in  removing  people  to  America  for  the  sake  of  relief  from  ex- 
cessive numbers  ;  while  the  Americans,  cursed  with  slavery, 
might  gain  incalculably  by  receiving  numbers  of  people  from 
England.  The  ends  of  colonization,  therefore,  may  be  divided 
into  two  classes ;  those  which  belong  to  the  old  country  and 
those  which  belong  to  the  colony.  Each  class  of  objects  will 
be  best  ascertained  by  being  examined  separately. 

THE    ENDS    OF    COLONIZATION    AS    RESPECTS    THE    MOTHER- 
COUNTRY. 

It  maybe  questioned  whether,  in  modern  times  at  least, any  old 
state  has  founded  or  extended  a  colony  with  any  definite  object 
whatever.  The  states  of  ancient  Greece  are  supposed  by  Mr. 
Mill  to  have  sent  forth  bodies  of  emigrants  deliberately,  with  a 
view  to  relief  from  excessive  numbers  :  and  he  has  Bhown  in  a 
very  clear  and  forcible  manner,  thai  the  rulers  of  those  states 
had  a  strong  motive  for  seeking  that  relief  in  that  way,  while 
no  such  motive  was  likely  to  occur  to  the  rulers  of  modern 
Europe.'     The  rulers  of  modern  Europe,  however,  have  had 

•"A  curious  phenomenon  here  preterits  itself.  A  redundancy  of  population 
in  tin-  states  "l  ancient  Greece  made  itself  visible  even  to  vulgar  eyes.  A  re- 
,!,,,,, laocj  "I  population  in  modern  Europe  never  makes  itself  visible  to  any  but 
tin-  most  enlightened  eyes.  Ask  an  ordinary  man,  ask  almost  any  man,  if  the 
population  of  this  country  be  too  great;  if  the  population  of  any  country  in 
Europe  is,  or  ever  was  too  great :  so  fur,  he  will  tell  you,  is  it  from  being  loo 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  239 

a  motive  of  affection  for  colonies.  "  Sancho  Panza,"  says 
Mr.  Mill,  "  had  a  scheme  for  deriving  advantage  from  the  gov- 
ernment of  an  island.  He  would  sell  the  people  for  slaves, 
and  put  the  money  into  his  pocket.     The  Few,  in  some  coun- 

great,  that  good  policy  would  consist  in  making  it,  if  possible,  still  greater;  and 
he  might  quote  in  his  own  support  the  authority  of  almost  all  governments, 
who  are  commonly  at  pains  to  prevent  the  emigration  of  their  people,  and  to 
give  encouragement  to  marriage. 

The  explanation  of  the  phenomenon  is  easy ;  but  it  is  also  of  the  highest 
importance.  When  the  supply  of  food  is  too  small  for  the  population,  the  de- 
ficiency operates,  in  modern  Europe,  in  a  manner  different  from  that  in  which 
it  operated  in  ancient  Greece.  In  modern  Europe  the  greatest  portion  of  the 
food  is  bought  by  the  great  body  of  the  people.  What  the  great  body  of  the 
people  have  to  give  for  it  is  nothing  but  labour.-  When  the  quantity  of  food  is 
not  sufficient  for  all,  and  when  some  are  in  danger  of  not  getting  any,  each  man 
is  induced,  in  order  to  secure  a  portion  to  himself,  to  give  better  terms  for  it 
than  any  other  man  ;  that  is,  more  labour.  In  other  words,  that  part  of  the 
population  who  have  nothing  to  give  for  food  but  labour,  take  less  wages. 
This  is  the  primary  effect,  clear,  immediate,  certain.  It  is  only  requisite 
further  to  trace  the  secondary  or  derivative  effects. 

When  we  say,  that  in  the  case  in  which  the  supply  of  food  has  become  too 
small  for  the  population,  the  great  body  of  the  people  take  less  wages,  that  is, 
less  food,  for  their  labour  ;  we  mean  that  they  take,  less  than  is  necessary  for 
their  comfortable  subsistence  ;  because  they  would  only  have  what  is  necessary 
for  comfortable  subsistence  in  the  case  in  which  the  supply  of  food  is  not  too 
small  for  the  whole. 

The  effect,  then,  of  a  disproportion  between  the  food  and  the  population  is, 
not  to  feed  to  the  full  measure  that  portion  of  the  population  which  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  feed,  and  to  leave  the  redundant  portion  destitute  ;  it  is  to  take,  accord- 
ing to  a  certain  rate,  a  portion  of  his  due  quantity  from  each  individual  of  that 
great  class  who  have  nothing  to  give  for  it  but  ordinary  labour. 

What  this  state  of  things  imports  is  most  easily  seen.  The  great  class,  who 
have  nothing  to  give  for  food  but  ordinary  labour,  are  the  great  body  of  the  peo- 
ple. VV'hen  every  individual  in  the  great  body  of  the  people  has  less  than  the 
due  quantity  of  food,  less  than  would  fall  to  his  share  if  the  quantity  of  food 
were  not  too  small  for  the  population,  the  state  of  the  great  body  of  the  people 
is  the  state  of  sordid,  painful,  and  degraded  poverty.  They  are  wretchedly  fedr 
wretchedly  clothed,  have  wretched  houses,  and  neither  time  nor  means  to  keep 
their  houses  or  their  persons  free  from  disgusting  impurity.  Those  of  them' 
who,  either  from  bodily  infirmities,  have  less  than  the  ordinary  quantity  of  labour 
to  bestow,  or,  from  the  state  of  their  families,  need  a  greater  than  the  ordinary 
quantity  of  food,  are  condemned  to  starve ;  either  wholly,  if  they  have  not 
enough  to  keep  them  alive  ;  or  parti  illy,  if  they  have  enough  to  yield  them  a 
lingering,  diseased,  and  after  all,  a  shortened  existence. 

What  the  ignorant  and  vulgar  spectator  sees  in  all  this,  is  not  a  redundant 
population  :  it  is  only  a  poor  population.  He  sees  nobody  without  food  who 
has  enough  to  give  for  it.  To  his  eye,  therefore,  it  is  not  food  which  is  want- 
ing, but  that  which  is  to  be  given  for  it.  When  events  succeed  in  this  train, 
and  are  viewed  with  those  eyes,  there  never  can  appear  to  be  a  redundancy  of 
population. 

l'.M'iits  succeeded  in  a  different  train  in  the  states  of  ancient  Greece,  and  ren- 
dered a  redundancy  of  population  somewhat  more  visible,  even  to  vulgar  and 
ignorant  eyes. 

In  ancient  Greece  the  greatest  portion  of  the  food  was  not  bought  by  the 
great  body  of  the  people  ;  the  state  of  whom,  wretched  or  comfortable,  legis- 
lation has  never  yet  been  wise  enough  much  to  regard.  All  manual  labour,  or, 
at  least,  the  far  greater  portion  of  it,  was  performed,  not  by  free  labourers  serv- 
ing for  wages,  but  by  slaves,  who  were  the  property  of  the  great  men.     The  de- 


240  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

tries,  find  in  colonies  a  thing  which  is  very  dear  to  them  ;  they 
find,  the  one  part  of  them,  the  precious  matter  with  which  to 
influence  ;  the  other,  the  precious  matter  with  which  to  be  in- 
fluenced ; — the  one,  the  precious  matter  with  which  to  make 
political  dependents  ;  the  other,  the  precious  matter  with  which 
they  are  made  political  dependents : — the  one,  the  precious  mat- 

ficiency  of  food,  therefore,  was  not  distributed  in  the  shape  of  general  poverty 
and  wretchedness  over  the  great  body  of  the  population  by  reduction  of  wages  ; 
a  case  which  affects  with  very  slight  sensations  those  who  regard  themselves  as 
in  no  degree  liable  to  fall  into  that  miserable  situation.  It  was  felt,  first  of  all 
by  the  great  men,  in  the  greater  cost  of  maintaining  their  slaves.  And  what  is 
felt  as  disagreeable  by  the  great  men  is  sure  never  to  continue  long  without  an 
effort,  either  wise  or  foolish,  for  the  removal  of  it.  This  law  of  human  nature 
was  not  less  faithfully  observed  in  the  states  of  ancient  Greece,  for  their  being 
called  republics.  Called  republics,  they  in  reality  were  aristocracies  ;  and  aris- 
tocracies of  a  very  bad  description.  They  were  aristocracies  in  which  the  peo- 
ple were  cheated  with  an  idea  of  power,  merely  because  they  were  able,  at  cer- 
tain distant  intervals,  when  violently  excited,  to  overpower  the  aristocracy  in 
some  one  particular  point  ;  but  they  were  aristocracies  in  which  there  was  not 
one  efficient  security  to  prevent  the  interests  of  the  many  from  being  sacrificed 
to  the  interests  of  the  few  ;  they  were  aristocracies,  accordingly,  in  which  the  in- 
terests of  the  many  were  habitually  sacrificed  to  the  interests  of  the  few  ;  mean- 
ing by  the  many,  not  the  slaves  merely,  but  the  great  body  of  the  free  citizens. 
This  was  the  case  in  all  the  states  of  Greece,  and  not  least  in  Athens.  This  is 
not  seen  in  reading  the  French  and  English  histories  of  Greece.  It  is  not  seen 
in  reading  Mitford,  who  has  written  a  history  of  Greece  for  no  other  purpose 
but  that  of  showing  that  the  interests  of  the  many  always  ought  to  be  sacrificed 
to  the  interests  of  the  few  ;  and  of  abusing  the  people  of  Greece,  because 
every  now  and  then,  the  many  in  those  countries  showed  that  they  were  by  no 
means  patient  under  the  habitual  sacrifice  of  their  interests  to  the  interests  of 
the  few.  But  it  is  very  distinctly  seen,  among  other  occasions,  in  reading  the 
Greek  orators,  in  reading  Demosthenes,  for  example,  in  reading  the  Oration 
against  Midias,  the  Oration  on  Leptines,  and  others  ;  in  which  the  license  of  the 
rich  and  powerful,  and  their  means  of  oppressing  the  body  of  the  people,  are 
shown  to  have  been  excessive,  and  to  have  been  exercised  with  a  shameless 
atrocity,  which  the  gentleness  and  modesty  of  the  manners  of  modern  Europe, 
even  in  the  most  aristocratically  despotic  countries,  wholly  preclude. 

In  Greece,  then,  any  thing  which  so  intimately  affected  the  great  men,  as  a 
growing  cost  of  maintaining  their  slaves,  would  not  long  remain  without  serious 
attempts  to  find  a  remedy. 

It  was  not,  however,  in  this  way  alone,  thai  a  redundant  population  showed 
itself  in  Greece.  As  not  many  of  the  free  citizens  maintained  themselves  by 
manual  labour,  they  bad  but  two  resources  more, — the  bind  and  profits  of  stock. 
Those  who  lived  mi  profits  of  stock,  did  so,  commonly,  by  employing  slaves  in 
some  of  the  known  a rt s  and  manufactures!  and  of  course  were  affected  byjtho 
growing  cost  of  maintaining  then  slaves.  Those  who  lived  on  lbs  produce  of 
a  certain  portion  of  the  land,  could  nol  but  exhibit,  very  distinctly,  the  redun- 
dancy  ol  their  numbers,  when,  by  the  multiplication  of  families,  portions  came 
to  be  so  far  subdivided,  that  what  belonged  to  each  individual  was  insufficient 
for  his  maintenance. 

In  this    manner,  then,  it  is   very  distinctly   seen    why,  lo  vulgar  eyes,  there 

never  appears,  in  modern  Europe,  to  be  any  redundancy  of  population,  any  do* 
1 1 1 .- 1 1 1 ' i  for  relieving  the  country  by  carrying  away  b  portion  of  the  people  ;  and 
why,  in  ancient  Greece,  that  redundancy  made  Itself  to  be  very  sensibly  per- 
ceived ;  and  created,  at  various  times,  B  perfectly  efficient  demand  for  removing 
to  distant  places  a  considerable  portion  of  the  people." — Article  Colony,  in  tht 
Supplement  to  the  Encyclvpadia  Brttanmca. 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  241 

ter  by  which  they  augment  their  power ;  the  other,  the  precious 
matter  by  which  they  augment  their  riches.  Both  portions  of 
the  ruling  Few,  therefore,  find  their  account  in  the  possession 
of  colonies.  There  is  not  one  of  the  colonies  but  what  aug- 
ments the  number  of  places.  There  are  governorships,  and 
judgeships,  and  a  long  train'  of  et  ceteras  ;  and,  above  all,  there 
is  not  one  of  them  but  what  requires  an  additional  number  of 
troops  and  an  additional  portion  of  navy.  In  every  additional 
portion  of  army  and  navy,  besides  the  glory  of  the  thing,  there 
are  generalships,  and  colonelships,  and  captainships,  and  lieu- 
tenantships  ;  and  in  the  equipping  and  supplying  of  additional 
portions  of  army  and  navy,  there  are  always  gains  which  may 
be  thrown  in  the  way  of  a  friend.  All  this  is  enough  to  account 
for  a  very  considerable  quantity  of  affection  maintained  towards 
colonies."  For  the  affection  of  the  rulers  this  is  enough,  but 
not  for  that  of  the  nations.  The  nations  of  modern  Europe 
have  had  a  very  different  motive  of  affection  for  colonies  ;  a 
sense  of  the  benefits  derived  from  the  discovery  of  new  pro- 
ductions and  the  creation  of  new  markets.  Those  Englishmen, 
for  instance,  who,  during  the  last  century  and  a  half  have 
shouted,  "  Ships,  Colonies,  and  Commerce  !"  were  good  po- 
litical economists.  If  they  did  not  know  scientifically,  that  all 
improvements  in  the  productive  powers  of  industry,  that  indus- 
try itself  is  limited  by  the  extent  of  the  market,  still  they  felt 
that  every  new  colony,  or  every  enlargement  of  an  old  one, 
increased  by  so  much  the  means  of  exchanging  the  produce  of 
English  labour,  and  by  so  much  increased  the  wealth  of  Eng- 
land. Who  that  produces  does  not  feel,  though  he  may  be 
unable  to  account  for  it,  the  advantage  of  having  some  other 
ready  to  deal  with  him  for  the  surplus  produce  of  his  labour  ? 
A  desire  for  new  markets  has,  indeed,  scarcely  ever  been  the 
deliberate  motive  for  establishing  a  colony  ;  nor  perhaps  did  any 
government  ever  establish  a  colony  deliberately  for  the  sake  of 
patronage.  But,  colonies  having  been  established,  sometimes  by 
the  adventurous  spirit  of  individuals,  sometimes  by  religious 
persecution,  the  governments  and  nations  of  modern  Europe 
had  strong  motives  of  affection  towards  them  ;  the  govern- 
ments, for  the  sake  of  patronage;  the  nations,  for  the  sake  of 
markets.  Hence  the.  anxiety  of  the  governments  of  modern 
Europe  to  retain  dominion  over  their  colonies,  and  their  attacks 
upon  each  other's  colonies :  hence  too,  the  Colonial  System,  as 
it  is  called  ;  the  system  of  trading  monopolies,  which  took  its 
rise  in  a  mistaken  desire  in  each  nation  to  monopolize  as  much 
as  possible  of  that  trade  between  Europe  and  her  colonies, 
which  would  have  been  more  valuable  to  all  the  nations  if  it 
had  been  perfectly  free.  Let  us  distinguish  between  the  exist- 
ence and  the  dominion  of  a  colony  ;  between   the  existence 

31 


242  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

and  the  monopoly  of  a  colonial  market.  "  There  is  no  neces- 
sity," says  Mr.  Bentham,  "  for  governing  or  possessing  any 
island  in  order  that  we  may  sell  merchandise  there."  But  in 
order  to  sell  merchandise  in  a  colony  it  is  necessary  that  the 
colony  should  exist.  If  Mr.  Bentham  had  drawn  this  distinc- 
tion, if  he  had  separated  the  question  of  dominion  from  the 
question  of  existence,  he  would  not  have  been  led,  by  dwelling 
on  the  evils  of  colonial  monopoly,  to  undervalue  the  benefits  of 
colonial  trade.  His  disciple,  Mr.  Mill,  likewise,  if  he  had 
drawn  this  distinction,  would  not  have  deprecated  colonies  be- 
cause they  have  been  made  improperly  a  ground  for  jobs, 
monopolies,  and  wars :  he  might  have  condemned  the  wars, 
monopolies,  and  jobs,  of  which  colonies  have  been  the  matter ; 
but  perceiving  that  the  real  source  of  those  evils  was  not  the 
colonies,  but  the  badness  of  the  European  governments,  he 
would  probably  have  seen  also,  along  with  Adam  Smith,  the 
"  natural  advantages"  which  Europe  has  derived  from  her 
colonies,  in  spite  of  the  tricks  which  those  governments  have 
played  with  them.  The  uses  and  abuses  of  colonization  are 
very  different  things.  While  some  philosophers  have  con- 
demned colonization  on  account  of  its  abuses,  the  nations  of 
Europe,  even  when  they  promoted  the  abuses,  had,  one  can- 
not say  a  knowledge,  but  a  deep  sense  of  the  usefulness.  That 
such  "  unscientific  knowledge,"  to  use  terms  employed  by 
Bentham,  should  have  been  attended  with  very  "  unartificial 
practice,"  is  just  what  might  have  been  expected. 

The  objects  of  an  old  society  in  promoting  colonization 
seem  to  be  three ;  first,  the  extension  of  the  market  for  dis- 
posing of  their  own  surplus  produce ;  secondly,  relief  from 
excessive  numbers  ;  thirdly,  an  enlargement  of  the  field  for 
employing  capital.  Referring,  however,  to  a  previous  Note  on 
the  coincidence  of  overflowing  national  wealth  with  the  un- 
easiness and  misery  of  individuals,  it  will  be  seen,  presently, 
that  these  three  objects  may  come  under  one  head  ;  namely, 
an  enlargement  of  the  field  for  employing  capital  and  labour. 
But  first,  each  object  must  be  considered  separately. 

I.  The  extension  of  marhtiti. 

Why  does  any  man  ever  produce  of  any  thing  more  than  he 
can  himself  consume  ?  Solely  because  he  expects  that  some 
other  man  will  take  from  him  thai  portion  of  the  produce  of 
his  labour  which  he  does  not  want,  giving  him  in  exchange 
something  which  he  wauls.  From  the  power  of  exchanging 
comes  every  improvement  in  the  application  of  labour,  and 
every  atom  of  the  produce  of  labour,  beyond  that  rude  work 
and  that  small  produce  which  supply  the  wants  of  savages.    It 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  243 

is  not  because  an  English  washerwoman  cannot  sit  down  to 
breakfast  without  tea  and  sugar,  that  the  world  has  been  cir- 
cumnavigated ;  but  it  is  because  the  world  has  been  circum- 
navigated that  an  English  washerwoman  requires  tea  and  sugar 
for  breakfast.  According  to  the  power  of  exchanging  are  the 
desires  of  individuals  and  societies.  But  every  increase  of 
desires,  or  wants,  has  a  tendency  to  supply  the  means  of  grati- 
fication. The  savage  hunter,  enabled  to  exchange  his  furs  for 
beads,  is  stimulated  to  greater  energy  and  skill.  The  sole 
ground  on  which  it  is  supposed  that  the  blacks  of  the  West 
Indies  will  work  for  wages  as  soon  as  they  shall  be  set  free,  is 
their  love  of  finery.  They  will  produce  sugar,  it  is  said,  in 
order  to  buy  trinkets  and  fine  clothes.  And  who  ever  worked 
hard,  when  was  an  improvement  made  in  any  useful  art,  save 
through  the  impulse  of  a  passion  for  some  kind  of  finery ;  for 
some  gratification,  not  absolutely  necessary,  to  be  obtained  by 
means  of  exchange?  As  with  individuals,  so  with  nations.  In 
England,  the  greatest  improvements  have  taken  place  continu- 
ally, ever  since  colonization  has  continually  produced  new 
desires  among  the  English,  and  new  markets  wherein  to  pur- 
chase the  objects  of  desire.  With  the  growth  of  sugar  and 
tobacco  in  America,  came  the  more  skilful  growth  of  corn  in 
England.  Because,  in  England,  sugar  was  drank  and  tobacco 
smoked,  corn  was  raised  with  less  labour,  by  fewer  hands  ;  and 
more  Englishmen  existed  to  eat  bread,  as  well  as  to  drink 
sugar  and  smoke  tobacco.  The  removal  of  Englishmen  to 
America,  and  their  industry  in  raising  new  productions  not  fit 
for  the  support  of  life,  led,  in  England,  to  more  production  for 
the  support  of  life.  Because  things  not  necessary  had  been 
produced,  more  necessaries  were  produced.*     If  the  French 

*  "  Rich  subjects  make  a  rich  nation.  As  the  former  increase,  so  will  the 
means  of  filling  the  coffers  of  the  latter.  Let  contemporary  nations  lay  it  to 
their  account  that  England  is  more  powerful  than  ever  she  was,  notwithstand- 
ing her  debt  and  taxes.  This  knowledge  should  form  an  element  in  their 
foreign  policy.  Let  them  assure  themselves  that  instead  of  declining  she  is 
advancing;  that  her  population  increases  fast ;  that  she  is  constantly  seeking 
new  fields  of  enterprise  in  other  parts  of  the  globe,  and  adding  to  the  improve- 
ments that  already  cover  her  island  at  home,  new  ones  that  promise  to  go  far 
beyond  them  in  magnitude  :  in  fine,  that  instead  of  being  worn  out,  as  at  a  dis- 
tance is  sometimes  supposed,  she  is  going  a-head  with  the  buoyant  and  vigorous 
effort  of  youth.  *  *  Britain  still  exists  all  over  the  world  in  her  colonies. 
These  alone  give  her  the  means  of  advancing  her  industry  and  opulence  for  ages 
to  come.  They  are  portions  of  her  territory  more  valuable  than  if  joined  to  her 
island.  The  sense  of  distance  is  destroyed  by  her  command  of  ships  ;  while 
that  very  distance  serves  as  the  feeder  of  her  commerce  and  marine.  Situated 
on  every  continent,  lying  in  every  latitude,  these,  her  out  dominions,  make  her 
the  centre  of  a  trade  already  vast  and  perpetually  augmenting, — a  home  trade 
and  a  foreign  trade, — for  it  yields  the  riches  of  both  as  she  controls  it  at  her 
will.  They  take  off  her  redundant  population,  yd  make  her  more  populous  ; 
and  are  destined,  under  the  policy  already  commenced  towards  them,  and  which 


244  TJIE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

should  know  how  to  colonize  North  Africa,  they  may  overtake 
the  English  in  the  skilful  application  of  domestic  capital  and 
labour ;  but  if  they  do  this,  it  will  be  through  the  impulse 
arising  from  new  markets,  in  which  to  sell  the  surplus  produce 
of  their  industry.  It  thus  appears,  that  the  removal  of  people 
from  an  old  society  to  a  new  place,  may  be  of  the  greatest  use 
to  that  old  society,  even  when  the  people  removed  occupy 
themselves  in  raising  objects  of  mere  luxury,  and  when  the 
mother-country  has  yet  many  steps  to  make  in  the  career  of 
wealth  and  civilization. 

But  now  comes  the  more  interesting  case  of  a  society,  which, 
stimulated  by  the  extension  of  its  markets,  has  cultivated  all 
that  part  of  its  territory  which  is  fit  for  cultivation  ;  a  society 
in  which  the  utmost  skill  in  the  application  of  capital  and  labour 
to  agriculture  is  counteracted  by  the  necessity  of  cultivating 
inferior  land  ;  a  society,  consequently,  in  which  food  is  dear, 
and  in  which  there  exist  the  strongest  motives  for  importing 
food  from  other  countries  by  means  of  manufactures  and  ex- 
change ;  a  society,  in  short,  which  requires  new  markets  in 
which  to  purchase  the  staff  of  life.  This  is  pre-eminently  the 
case  of  England.  Imagine  a  country  in  which  the  quantity  of 
air  for  breathing  were  limited,  and  were  not  more  than  suffi- 
cient to  keep  alive  the  actual  number  of  its  inhabitants  ;  while 
of  that  actual  number  the  larger  portion  by  much  obtained  less 
than  enough  air  ;  was  half  suffocated  for  want  of  air  ;  in  a  state 
between  life  and  death.  Conceive  further,  that  in  this  country 
an  inexhaustible  supply  of  food  might  be  obtained  without 
labour,  as  air  is  everywhere  obtained.  Now  suppose  that  this 
society  should  be  able  to  obtain  air  from  other  countries  by 
means  of  manufactures  and  exchange.  If  this  ability  were 
allowed  its  free  exercise,  the  population  of  that  country  would 
go  on  increasing  continually,  all  the  people  being  at  ease,  so 
long  as  the  ability  should  last.  But  if  the  rulers  of  this  country, 
ha\  inir  a  property  in  the  atmosphere,  should  forbid  the  people 
to  get  air  from  other  countries,  the  bulk  of  that  people  must 
.in  half  suffocated,  notwithstanding  their  natural  ability  to 
obtain  plenty  of  tln%  means  of  life.  Substituting  bread  for  air, 
this  is  the  case  of  England  with  her  stilling  corn-laws.  The 
lish  corn-laws  will  be  repealed,  As  the  present  inquiry 
■  -  toa  country  like  England,  but  without  corn-laws,  we 
may,  lor  the  sake  of  more  ready  illustration,  speak  of  England 
as  if  her  corn-laws  were,  repealed.  When  that  shall  happen, 
the    English   will   hunt  over  the   world   in  search  of  cheap 

in  time  she  will  more  extensively  pursue,  to  expand  licr  empire,  commercial, 
mam  I  ml  maritime,  i"  <  i"  which  it  would  nol  be  <;iKy  to 

fix  liir  '     art  o)    /    ndon;  );i  ilu  Hon.  Mr.  Rush,  l'lnr. 

t  mi:  'l  Slales  in  England, 


THE   ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  5245 

corn.     But  where  will  they  find  any  ?     Not  in   countries  sit- 
uated like  England ;  not  in  any  country  where  land  is  dear. 
They   will  find   cheap   corn   only  in    countries  where   land 
is    cheap ;  in   countries   where    the    proportion   which   land 
bears  to  people  is  so   great  as,  first,  to  render  unnecessary 
the  cultivation  of  inferior   land,  and   secondly,  to  encourage 
a  large  proportion  of  the  people  to  occupy  themselves  with 
the    growth  of  corn.      But  is  not  this  the   description  of  a 
colony,  according  to  the  sense  in  which  the  term  colony  is  here 
used  ?  a  country  having  room  for  more  people,  with  more  room 
at  hand  for  the  greatest  increase  of  people.     Poland  is  such  a 
country  ;  as  was  England  when  the  bulk  of  Englishmen  were 
serfs.     But  there  are  three  reasons  why  such  a  country  as  Eng- 
land was  then,  is  not  the   most  fit  to  provide  cheap  corn  for 
such  a  country  as  England  is  now  :  first,  because  in  the  then 
barbarous  and  despotic  state  of  the  English  government,  no 
dependence  could  have  been  placed  on  English  industry  for  a 
regular  supply  of  corn  :  secondly,  because  in  the  then  barbar- 
ous condition  of  the  English  people,  capital  and  labour  were 
not  applied  to  the  growth  of  corn  with  that  skill  which  renders 
the   produce  great  in   proportion  to  the   hands   employed : 
thirdly,  because  the  savage  ancestors  of  the  English  would  not 
have  cared  to  buy  such  objects  as  those,  with  which  alone  the 
English  of  this  day  could  buy  foreign  corn.     The  market  would 
have   been  very  insecure ;  the  corn  brought  to  it  not  very 
cheap ;  and  of  that  corn,  whether  cheap  or  dear,  but  a  small 
quantity  would  have  been   brought  to  market.     This  is  pre- 
cisely the  case  of  Poland,  where  the  market  is  liable  to  be  shut 
up  by  the  whim  of  a  tyrant ;  where  the  produce  of  agricul- 
tural capital  and  labour,  though,  by  means  of  slavery,  greater 
than  it  would  be  if  the  capital  and  labour  were  cut  up  into 
fractions  as  numerous  as  the  cultivators,  is  much  less  than  it 
would  be  if  the  same  number  of  Poles  should  cultivate  the 
same  land  with  English  skill ;  and  where  the  demand  for  Eng- 
lish goods  is  by  no  means  equal  to  the  supply  that  could  be 
afforded,  nor  likely  to  become  so.     Whereas  in  a  colony  planted 
by  Englishmen,  civilized  and  well-governed,  the  highest  skill  in 
the  application  of  capital  and  labour  to  the  growth  of  corn, 
might  conspire,  with  great  cheapness  of  land,  to  the  raising  of 
cheaper  corn  than  has  ever  yet  been  raised  ;  while  so  cheap  a 
market  for  the  purchase  of  corn  would  not  only  be  as  secure 
as  any  distant  market  ever  was,  but  might  be  extended  con- 
tinually with  the   progress  of  colonization.     Why  such  very 
cheap  corn  has  not  been  raised  in  any  English  colony,  is  a  dif- 
ferent question,  slightly  noticed  before  ;*  and  the  means  of  rais- 
ing very  cheap  corn  in  a  colony,  without  slavery,  will  be  care- 
*  See  Note  VII. 


24G  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

fully  examined  among  the  means  of  colonization.  Here  my 
object  has  been  to  show,  that  for  such  a  country  as  England, 
a  chief  end  of  colonization  is  to  obtain  secure  markets  for  the 
purchase  of  cheap  corn  ;  a  steady  supply  of  bread,  liable  to  be 
increased  with  an  increasing  demand. 

The  trade  which  the  English  should  conduct  for  obtaining 
cheap  bread  from  their  colonies  might  be  of  two  kinds  ;  direct 
and  indirect.  Supposing  that  very  cheap  corn  were  raised  in 
Canada,  the  English  might  buy  such  corn  with  the  manufac- 
tured goods  of  Leeds,  Manchester,  and  Birmingham ;  this 
"would  be  a  direct  trade.  But  it  might  very  well  happen,  that 
the  Canadians  should  be  able  to  raise,  not  more  corn  than  the 
English  should  be  able  to  buy,  but  more  than  they  should  be 
able  to  buy  icith  manufactured  goods.  In  other  words,  the 
demand  of  the  Canadians  fur  English  goods  might  be  much 
less  than  the  demand  of  the  English  for  Canadian  corn.  But 
the  Canadians  would  require  many  things,  besides  English 
goods,  which  are  not  producible  in  Canada :  they  would  re- 
quire tea  and  silver,  for  instance.  The  English,  then,  might 
first  buy  tea  and  silver  of  the  Chinese  with  manufactured 
goods,  and  then  buy  corn  of  the  Canadians  with  tea  and  silver. 
But  the  demand,  again,  of  the  Chinese  for  English  goods  might 
not  be  sufficient  to  supply  in  this  way  the  demand  of  the  Eng- 
lish for  Canadian  corn.  For  one  thing,  however,  the  demand 
of  the  Chinese  is  very  urgent,  and  would  be  without  limit ;  for 
food  in  every  shape  ;  for  the  means  of  life.  Here,  then,  is  the 
groundwork  of  the  most  extensive  commerce  that  ever  existed 
in  the  world.  Supposing  that  cheap  food  were  raised  in  the 
English  colonies  of  Australia,  which,  though  far  from  England, 
are  near  to  China,  the  English  might  buy  such  food  with  man- 
ufactured goods  ;  with  that  food  buy  tea  and  silver  of  the  Chi- 
nese ;  and  with  that  tea  and  silver  buy  cheap  corn  of  the 
Canadians.  In  this  case,  combination  of  capital  and  labour  for 
division  of  employments  among  four  different  nations,  would 
be  of  the  greatest  service  to  all  pf  them ;  to  the  Australian 
colonists,  the  Chinese,  the  Canadian  colonists,  and  the  English. 
A  great  number  of  cases  like  tins  might  be  reasonably  sup- 
posed. From  this  ease,  which,  though  supposed,  is  very  likely 
to  occur,  it  will  be  seen  that  a  colony,  at  the  antipodes  even  of 
its  mother  country,  might  help  to  supply  that  mother  country 
with  cheap  corn ;  and  by  means  of  the  cheapness  of  land 
which  is  an  attribute  of  colonies.  Both  by  a  direct  and  an  in- 
direct trade,  colonies  might,  according  to  then-  Dumber  and  ex- 
tent, enlarge  the  field  for  employing  capital  and  labour  in  the 
mother  country,  at  home,  without  reference  to  the  emigration 
of  people  or  the  removal  of  capital  into  distant  fields  oi  em- 
ployment.    The  warmest  imagination  could  hardly  exaggerate 


THE    AUT   OF    COLOMZATION.  247 

the  benefits  which  a  country  like  England  might  derive  from 
such  enlargements  of  her  domestic  field  of  production  ;  could 
hardly  reckon  at  too  much  the  new  demand  for  labour  at 
home,  in  building,  machinery,  and  manufactures;  for  the  pro- 
duce of  domestic  agriculture,  corn  alone  excepted  ;  for  ships  ; 
for  the  use  of  mercantile  capital ;  and  for  all  kinds  of  services 
not  usually  called  labour. 

But,  it  may  be  said,  a  country  like  England,  having  no  corn- 
laws,  might  obtain  all  these  benefits  without  colonies.     "The 
possession  of  colonies,"  Sir  Henry  Parnell  would  say,  "affords 
no  advantages  which  could  not  be  obtained  by  commercial 
intercourse  with  independent  states."*     Here,  again,  the  ques- 
tion of  dominion  is  mixed  up  with  the  question  of  existence. 
Independent  states  !  which   are   the  independent  states  that 
could  produce  very  cheap  corn  for  the  English  market?     The 
United   States  :    truly  ;  but  the   United   States  are  as  much 
colonies  as  were  the   never  dependent  colonies  of  Greece. 
Canada,  on  the  other  hand,  being  dependent,  is  neither  more 
nor  less  fit  than  the  United  States  to  produce  cheap  corn  for 
the  English  market.     Let  us  banish  altogether,  for  the  present, 
the  idea  of  monopoly  or  dominion.     Of  him  who  has  done 
this,  I  would  ask,  What  country,  in  which  land  is  cheap,  is 
most  fit,  on  other  accounts,  to  provide  the  English  with  cheap 
corn  ?      Not   Poland  ;    because   there    property   is    insecure, 
industry  unskilful,  and   the  people    barbarous :    not   Buenos 
Ayres,  where  land  is  cheaper  than  in  any  other  country,  being 
obtainable  in  unlimited  quantities  for  nothing,  of  the  richest 
quality,  already  cleared  and  drained   by  nature ;  not  Buenos 
Ayres,  because  the  people  of  this  colony  are  barbarously  un- 
skilful, and  have  no  desire  for  English  goods  ;  not  Ceylon,  be- 
cause, though  that  country  be  improperly  called  an  English 
colony,  its  inhabitants  are  not  anxious  to  obtain  English  goods  : 
none  of  these,  but  the  United  States,  Canada,  and  the  English 
settlements  in  South  Africa  and  Australia ;  because,  in  all  of 
those   countries,  corn  might   be  raised  on  cheap   land,  with 
English  skill,  by  people  anxious  to  buy  English  goods.     If  the 
English  should  buy  cheap  corn  of  the  Canadians  with  Chinese 
tea  and  silver,  it  might  be  by  means  of  selling  English  goods 
to  the  growers  of  cheap  food  in  Australia.     If  cheap  corn 
were  brought  to  England,  whether  by  the  most  straight  and 
simple,  or  by  the  most  round-about  and  complicated  traffic,  the 
original  purchase-money  of  such  corn  must  be  manufactured 
goods,  the  produce  of  capital  and  labour  employed  in  England  ; 
and  it  could  be  nothing  else.     Whence  it  follows,  inevitably, 
that  the  number  or  extent  of  the  markets,  in  which  the  English 

*  Financial  Reform,  page  251,  3d.  edit. 


248 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 


might  buy  very  cheap  corn,  must  depend  upon  the  number  or 
extent  of  countries  raising  cheap  corn  and  requiring  English 
goods.  An  English  colony,  whether  dependent  like  Canada, 
or  independent  like  the  United  States,  might  do  both :  it  might, 
both  raise  the  corn  and  want  the  manufactured  goods.  We 
may  conclude  then,  that  with  a  view  to  the  greatest  market  for 
buying  cheap  corn,  a  people  like  the  English  would  plant  or 
extend  colonies;  nations  of  Englishmen  born,  and  their  de- 
scendants; using  the  English  language;  preserving  English 
skill  and  English  tastes ;  and,  therefore,  both  able  and  willing 
to  purchase  English  goods  with  cheap  corn. 

II.  Relief  from  excessive  numbers. 

In  modern  times,  no  old  country  has  ever  obtained  relief 
from  excessive  numbers  by  means  of  colonization.  In  no  case 
has  the  number  of  emigrants  been  sufficient  to  diminish,  even 
for  a  year,  the  ruinous  competition  of  labourers  for  employ- 
ment ;  much  less  to  produce  any  lasting  improvement  in  the 
condition  of  the  bulk  of  the  people.  More  than  once,  how- 
ever, this  has  been  the  object,  or  has  been  called  the  object,  of 
an  old  state  in  promoting  colonization.  Twice  since  their 
late  war  with  the  French,  the  English  have  sent  out  bodies  of 
people  to  colonies  under  the  rule  of  the  English  government, 
for  the  declared  purpose  of  checking  pauperism  at  home  :  first 
to  the  Dutch  colony  of  South  Africa,  and  next  to  the  English 
colony  of  Upper  Canada.  On  neither  of  these  occasions  was 
the  object  attained  even  in  the  slightest  degree.  Both  these 
attempts  were  called  experiments.  This  year,  the  English 
government  is  making,  to  use  the  expression  of  Lord  Goderich,* 
another  "  experiment"  of  the  same  kind,  by  providing  the  funds 
wherewith  to  convey  to  South  Africa  a  number  of  destitute 
children  ;  the  prodigious  number  of  twenty.  Considering  that 
the  population  of  England  is  fourteen  millions,  this  experiment 
maybe  justly  called  child's  play.  The  previous  experiment  In 
South  Africa,  and  the  outlay  of60,000Z  in  taking  English  pau- 
pers to  Upper  Canada,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  (now  Sir 
Robert)  Wiimot  Horton  and  the  Emigration  Committees  of 
the  House  of  Commons.,  were  hardly  less  preposterous,  if  we 
are  tO  believe  that  any  benefit  to  the  labouring  class  at  home 
was  Beriously  expected  from  them.  To  call  experiments  mea- 
sures so  futtle,  so  obviously  inadequate  to  the  <'nd  in  view,  is 
an  abuse  of  language,  and  one  calculated  to  be  mischievous; 
since,  if  these  childish  attempts  had  really  been  experiments, 

•  In  ;i  letter  add]  for  th  rphai    aftd  d<   mute 


TUB    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  219 

the  signal  failure  of  them  would  have  been  a  fact,  tending  to 
establish  that  colonization,  with  a  view  to  relief  from  excessive 
numbers,  must  necessarily  fail  of  its  object. 

Two  classes  of  men  in  England,  classes  of  the  most  opposite 
turn  of  mind,  have  decided  against  colonization  with  this  view, 
and  on  grounds  equally  unreasonable  :  first,  those  unreasoning 
men  who  would  determine  questions  in  political  economy  by 
quoting  Scripture  ;  secondly,  men  who  possess  in  a  high  degree 
the  faculty  of  reason,  but  who,  having  mnde  a  religion  for 
themselves,  are  often  under  the  influence  of  a  kind  of  bigotry  ; 
1  mean  those  political  economists  who  worship  capital.  Speak 
of  emigration  to  one  of  the  former  class,  and  he  will  exclaim, 
"  Dwell  in  the  land,  and  verily  ye  shall  be  fed  ;"  to  one  of  the 
latter,  and  he  will  say, — The  question  deserves  profound  re- 
gard ;  but  as  employment  for  labour  is  in  proportion  to  capi- 
tal, as  emigration  would  cost  money  and  diminish  capital, 
therefore  it  would  diminish  employment  for  labour,  and  do 
more  harm  than  good. 

Whether  right  or  wrong  in  their  dislike  of  emigration,  those 
who  swear  by  David,  and  those  who  worship  capital,  are 
equally  contradicted  by  facts.  The  people  do  dwell  in  the 
land,  but  verily  they  are  not  fed.  Though  no  labour  be  em- 
ployed save  by  capital,  still  millions  upon  millions  of  capital 
are  accumulated,  not  to  employ  domestic  labour,  but,  for  want 
of  employment/or  capital,  either  to  lie  idle,  or  to  be  wasted  in 
distant  and  ruinous  speculations.  The  quotation  from  Scrip- 
ture may  be  disposed  of  by  another:  "Increase  and  multiply, 
and  replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue  it"  But  those  who  object 
to  emigration  on  the  score  of  its  expense  deserve,  on  account 
of  their  reputation  and  authority,  that  their  argument  should 
be  carefully  examined. 

The  argument  is  stated  as  follows  by  Mr.  Mill.  a  It  has 
been  often  enough,  and  clearly  enough  explained,  that  it  is 
capital  which  gives  employment  to  labour :  we  may,  therefore, 
take  it  as  a  postulate.  A  certain  quantity  of  capital,  then,  is 
necessary  to  give  employment  to  the  population,  which  any 
removal  for  the  sake  of  colonization  may  leave  behind.  But 
if,  to  afford  the  expense  of  that  removal,  so  much  is  taken  from 
the  capital  of  the  country  that  the  remainder  is  not  sufficient 
for  the  employment  of  the  remaining  population,  there  is,  in 
that  case,  a  redundancy  of  population,  and  all  the  evils  which 
it  brings.  For  the  well-being  of  the  remaining  population,  a 
certain  quantity  of  food  is  required,  and  a  certain  quantity  of 
all  those  other  things  which  minister  to  human  happiness. 
But  to  raise  this  quantity  of  other  things,  a  certain  quantity 
of  capital   is   indispensably   necessarv.      If  that  quantity   of 

32 


250  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

capital  is  not  supplied,  the  food  and  other  things  cannot  be 
obtained."* 

Though  the  argument  stated  thus  hypothetic-ally,  thus 
guarded  by  ifs,  amounts  to  the  statement  of  a  mere  truism, 
still  the  "  postulate"  which  runs  through  the  argument  is  an 
assumption,  that  emigration  would  take  away  too  much  capital ; 
so  much  as  to  leave  too  little  for  the  remaining  people.  Mr. 
Bentham  assumes  this  without  any  ifs.  "  Colonization,"'  he 
says,f  "  requires  an  immediate  expense,  an  actual  loss  of 
wealth,  for  a  future  profit,  for  a  contingent  gain.  The  capital 
which  is  carried  away  for  the  improvement  of  the  land  in  the 
colonies,  had  it  been  employed  in  the  mother  country,  would 
have  added  to  its  increasing  wealth,  as  well  as  to  its  population, 
and  to  the  means  of  its  defence,  while,  as  to  the  produce  of 
the  colonies,  only  a  small  part  ever  reaches  the  mother  country. 
If  colonization  is  a  folly  when  employed  as  a  means  of  enrich- 
ment, it  is  at  least  an  agreeable  folly." 

Now  upon  what  rests  this  assumption  ?  It  rests  upon  two 
other  assumptions,  one  of  which  is  true,  the  other  false ;  first, 
that  no  labour  is  employed  save  by  capital ;  secondly,  that  all 
capital  employs  labour.  If  it  were  true  that  every  increase 
of  capital  necessarily  gave  employment  to  more  labour ;  if  it 
were  true,  as  Professor  M'Culloch  has  said,J  that  "  there  is 
plainly  only  one  way  of  effectually  improving  the  condition  of 
the  great  majority  of  the  community  or  of  the  labouring  class, 
and  that  is  by  increasing  the  ratio  of  capital  to  population? 
then  it  might  be  assumed  that  colonization  would,  on  account 
of  its  expense,  do  more  harm  than  good.  But  it  is  not  true  that 
all  capital  employs  labour.  To  say  so  is  to  say  that  which  a 
thousand  facts  prove  to  be  untrue.  Capital  frequently  in- 
creases without  providing  any  more  employment  for  labour. 
That  this  docs  actually  happen  in  England,  1  have  endeavoured 
to  show  else  where. §  It  follows,  that  capital,  for  which  there 
is  no  employment  at  home,  might  be  spent  on  emigration  with- 
out diminishing  employment  for  labour  to  the  slightest  extent. 
I  use  the  word  spent  instead  of  invested,  in  order  to  save  the 
trouble  of  explaining  at  length,  that  if  capital  so  employed  were 
utterly  lost,  that  loss  of  capital  need  not  diminish  employment 
for  labour.  No  one  pretends  that  employment  for  English 
labour  was  diminished,  to  the  extent  <>f  a  single  pair  of  hands, 
bv  the  loans  which  the  English  lately  made  to  the  republics,  so 
railed,  <>l  South  America,  to  the  Spanish  ( Sortes,  to  Don  Miguel, 
or  Don  Pedro;  or  by  the  late  waste  of  English  capital  in  pre- 

*  Article  Colony.    Supplement  to  the  Encyclopedia  Britannic*,    ] 
t  Rationale  ol  Keward,  l>.  iv.  chap<  M. 

t  Introductory  Discourse,  in  lu«  edition  of  the  Wealth  of  Nations. 
$  Note  IV. 


TUG    ART    OF    COLONIZATIOX.  251 

tending  to  work  mines  in  South  America,  or  in  glutting  distant 
markets  with  English  goods,  sold  for  less  than  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction ;  or  by  the  waste  of  English  capital  in  founding  the 
Swan  River  settlement.  Still  less  has  employment  for  English 
labour  been  diminished  by  late  investments  of  English  capital, 
in  foreign  countries,  which  yield  some  return  ;  such  as  loans  to 
the  emperors  of  Austria  and  Russia,  to  the  kings  of  Prussia, 
Naples,  the  Low  Countries,  and  France  ;  purchases  lately 
made  in  the-  securities  of  foreign  governments,  amounting  at 
one  time  in  the  French  funds  alone  to  near  40,000,0(10/. ;  in- 
vestments of  English  capital  in  the  iron  and  cotton  works  of 
France,  the  Low  Countries,  and  Germany ;  and  finally,  loans 
to  the  North  American  States.  If  all  the  capital  removed 
from  England  in  all  these  ways  during  the  last  seventeen  years, 
amounting  to  some  hundreds  of  millions,  had  been  lost  in  con- 
ducting emigration,  employment  for  labour  in  England  would 
not  have  been  less  than  it  is  at  present. 

A  recent  fact  illustrates  this  view  of  the  subject  still  more 
forcibly.  During  the  last  year  (1832),  it  is  supposed,  about 
125,000  people,  men,  women,  and  children,  emigrated  from 
Biatain  to  the  United  States,  Canada,  and  Australia.  Of  these 
a  considerable  number  carried  property  wTith  them,  varying 
in  amount  from  5000/.  to  a  few  pounds  over  the  cost  of  pas- 
sage. The  passage  of  the  whole  of  them  must  have  cost,  at 
the  lowest  estimate  of  5/.  for  each  person,  not  less  than 
625,000/.  Supposing  that  they  took  with  them  a  capital  of 
5/.  each,  upon  the  average,  which  seems  a  very  low  estimate, 
emigration  from  Britain  carried  off  during  the  last  year  a  capital 
of  1,250,000/.  Does  any  one  pretend  that  this  abstraction  of 
capital  has  diminished,  to  the  extent  of  a  single  pair  of  hands, 
the  amount  of  employment  for  labour  in  Britain  ?  Might  we 
not  rather  expect,  if  England  had  no  corn-laws,  that  these 
125,000  emigrants,  employing  their  capital  and  labour  in  a 
wide  and  rich  field,  would  create  a  new  demand  for  the  produce 
of  capital  and  labour  employed  in  Britain  ?  Let  these  ques- 
tions be  answered  carefully,  and  it  will  appear  that  much  of 
the  capital  of  such  a  country  as  England  may  be  used  in  pro- 
moting emigration,  without  diminishing,  to  sav  the  least,  the 

DO  '  O'  * ^  ml 

amount  of  employment  for  domestic  labour.  Whether  capital 
might  be  so  used  with  profit  to  the  owners  of  it,  whether,  by 
such  a  use  of  capital,  effectual  relief  from  excessive  numbers 
might  be  obtained,  are  questions  which  belong  rather  to  the 
means  than  to  the  ends  of  colonization.  Here,  my  sole  object 
is  to  show  how  groundless  is  the  objection  to  emigration  on 
the  score  of  its  expense  ;  how  futile  is  that  a  priori  reasoning, 
by  which  some  conclude,  that  the  cost  of  emigration  would 
necessarilv  diminish,  according  to  its  amount,  the  amount  of 


252 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATIOX. 


employment  for  labour  at  home.  I  have  dwelt  so  long  on  this 
objection,  not  with  a  view  to  recommend  emigration  by  means 
of  an  outlay  of  English  capital  (for  I  shall  endeavour  to  show 
hereafter  that  it  would  be  greatly  for  the  advantage  of  colo- 
nies to  provide  a  fund  for  the  immigration  of  labour),  but  in 
order  to  remove  a  prejudice  against  colonization,  on  the  ground 
of  the  mischievous  loss  of  capital  which  it  might  occasion  to 
the  mother  country  ;  a  prejudice  which  stops  him  who  enter- 
tains it  on  the  very  threshold  of  this  subject.* 

Supposing  that,  whether  by  means  of  English  capital  about, 
at  all  events,  to  My  off  to  foreign  countries,  or  by  means  of  a 
fund  raised  in  the  colonies,  such  an  amount  of  labour  should 
emigrate  from  England  as  considerably  to  diminish  the  propor- 
tion which,  in  England,  labour  bears  to  employment ;  then 
would  the  wages  of  labour  be  higher,  then  would  the  state  of 
the  bulk  of  the  people  be  improved,  then  would  relief  be  ob- 
tained from  excessive  numbers.  This  great  end  of  colonization 
has  never  been  so  much  as  seriously  contemplated  by  the 
ruling  class  in  England.  On  the  contrary,  taught  by  certain 
economists  to  believe,  that  profits  rise  when  wages  fall,  and  fall 
when  wages  rise,  that  the  prosperity  of  the  capitalist  is  con- 
sistent only  with  the  misery  of  the  labourer,  the  late  ruling 

*  This  prejudice  was  once  entertained  by  Mr.  Bentham.  It  depended  upon 
a  nan  scquitur  which  had  got  possession  of  his  mind.  In  the  fourth  book,  of 
the  Rationale  of  Reward,  M.  Dumont  has  a  chapter  entitled  "  Bentham  and 
Adam  Smith,"  where  he  draws  a  comparison  between  the  views  of  political 
economy,  taken  by  the  English  and  Scotch  philosophers.  "  Mr.  Bentham," 
he  says,  "  has  simplified  his  subject,  by  referring  every  thing  to  one  principle  ; 
namely,  the  limitation  of  product/an  anil  trade  by  the  limitation  of  capital  ;  a 
principle  which  brings  all  his  reasonings  into  a  very  small  circle,  and  which 
serves  to  unite  into  one  bundle  those  observations  which  cannot  be  so  easily 
grasped  when  they  are  disunited."  This  one  principle  is  stated  as  follows  in 
the  first  paragraph  of  Bentham's  Manual  of  Political  Economy.  "  No  kind  of 
productive  labour  of  any  importance  can  be  carried  on  without  capital,  from 
hence  it  follows,  that  the  quantity  of  labour,  applicable  to  any  object,  is  limited 
by  the  quantity  of  capital  which  can  lie  employed  in  it."  Doubtless;  but  then 
the  principle  is,  "  the  limitation  of  production  and  trade  by  the  limitation  of 
capital"  for  which  there  it  employment.     The  words  which  I  have   added,  in 

.  make  all  the  difference.  It  does  not  follow  that,  because  labour  is  em- 
ployed by  capital,  capital  always  finds  a  field  in  which  to  employ  labour.  This 
i-.  the  nun  tequitUT  always  taken  for  ^ r;n it  11 1  h\  I  Sen  than),  Kicanlo,  Mill,  M'Cul- 
loch,  and  Others.  Adam  Smith,  on  the  contrary,  saw  that  there  were  limits  to 
the  employment  of  Capital,  and  then- fore  limits,  besides  the  limit  of  capital,  to 
the  employment  of  labour  ;  the  limits,  namely,  of  the  field  of  production,  and  of 
the  market  in  which  to  dispose  of  surplus  produce.  During  the  .summer  of 
L831,  Mr.  Bentham's  attention  was  called  to  this  subject.  At  lirst  ho  urged  the 
objection  to  colonization  which  has  been  here  examined,  but  finally  abandoned 
it.  Then,  immediately,  notwithstanding  hi^  great  age  and  bodily  infirmities,  he 
proceeded  to  Btudj  the  whole  subject  of  colonization,  and  even  to  write  upon  it 

ie  length.     Ilis  written  remarks  upon  the  subject,  now  in  my  possession. 

nh<>w  that  he  lived  i"  consider  colonization I  "an  agreeable  folly,"  but  ■ 

work  oi  the  greatest  utility.  I  am  proud  to  add,  that  the  form  of  the  present 
In  nine  was  suggested  by  one  of  the  wineyt  and  beat  ol  mankind. 


TIIE    ART    OP    COLONIZVTIOX.  2*>3 

dass  in  England  would  have  set  their  faces  against  any  project 
of  colonization  which  had  seemed  fit  to  raise  wages.  Late 
events  have  produced  some  change  of  feeling  on  this  subject ; 
and  coming  events,  probably,  will  soon  produce  a  greater 
change.  "What,"  says  Mr.  Mill,  "is  felt  as  disagreeable  by 
the  great  men,  is  sure  never  to  continue  long  without  an  effort, 
either  wise  or  foolish,  for  the  removal  of  it."  The  new  ruling 
class  of  England,  those  whom  late  events  have  made  the  great 
men  of  England,  are  placed  in  a  situation  which  may  render 
excess  of  numbers  highly  disagreeable  to  them.  They  may  be 
glad  to  pay  high  wages  for  the  security  of  their  property  ;  to 
prevent  the  devastation  of  England  through  commotions  arising 
from  discontent  in  the  bulk  of  the  people.  Even  before  the 
late  change,  while  the  fears  of  the  great  men  were  urging  them 
to  bring  about  that  change,  while  fires  were  blazing  and  mobs 
exacting  higher  wages  in  the  south  of  England,  a  dread  of  the 
political  evils  likely  to  come  from  excessive  numbers,  induced 
the  English  government  to  form  a  Board  of  Emigration,  with 
the  avowed  purpose  of  improving  the  condition  of  the  labour- 
ing class,  by  removing  some  of  them  to  the  colonies.  A  more 
foolish,  or  rather  futile,  effort  by  great  men  to  remove  what 
they  felt  as  disagreeable,  was,  perhaps,  never  made  ;  but  the 
effort,  feeble  and  puerile  though  it  were,  tends  to  point  out  that 
for  a  country,  situated  like  England,  in  which  the  ruling  and 
the  subject  orders  are  no  longer  separated  by  a  middle  class, 
and  in  which  the  subject  order,  composing  the  bulk  of  the 
people,  are  in  a  state  of  gloomy  discontent  arising  from  exces- 
sive numbers  ;  that  for  such  a  country,  one  chief  end  of  colo- 
nization is  to  prevent  tumults,  to  keep  the  peace,  to  maintain 
order,  to  uphold  confidence  in  the  security  of  property,  to  hin- 
der interruptions  of  the  regular  course  of  industry  and  trade, 
to  avert  the  terrible  evils  which,  in  a  country  like  England, 
could  not  but  follow  any  serious  political  convulsion. 

For  England,  another  end  of  colonization,  by  means  of  relief 
from  excessive  numbers,  would  be  relief  from  that  portion  of 
the  poor's-rate  which  maintains  workmen  in  total  or  partial 
idleness ;  an  object  in  which  the  ruling  order  have  an  obvious 
interest. 

For  England  again,  a  very  useful  end  of  colonization  would 
be  to  turn  the  tide  of  Irish  emigration  from  England  to  her 
colonies  ;  not  to  mention  that  the  owners  of  land  in  Ireland, 
most  of  them  being  foreigners  by  religion,  might  thus  be  taken 
out  of  the  dilemma  in  which  they  are  now  placed  ;  that  of  a 
choice  between  legally  giving  up  a  great  part  of  their  rental 
to  the  hungry  people,  and  yielding  to  the  people's  violence  the 
land  which  was  taken  by  violence  from  their  fathers. 

Finally,  comprised  in  relief  from  excessive  numbers  is  the 


-54  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

relief  to  many  classes,  not  called  labourers  or  capitalists,  from 
that  excessive  competition  for  employment  which  renders  them 
uneasy  and  dissatisfied.  Of  the  L25,000  persons  who  quitted 
England  last  year  to  settle  in  colonies,  not  a  few  were  pro- 
fessional men  ;  surgeons,  clergymen,  lawyers,  architects,  engi- 
neers, surveyors,  teachers,  and  clerks  :  some  few  of  them  were 
governesses.  It  will  be  seen,  when  we  shall  come  to  the 
means  of  colonization,  that,  if  colonies  were  properly  managed, 
they  would  furnish,  according  to  the  continual  progress  in  their 
number  or  extent,  a  continually  increasing  demand  for  the  ser- 
vices of  all  those  classes. 

III.  Enlargement  of  the  field  for  cjnploijing  capital. 

This  end  of  colonization  is  distinct  from  that  enlargement  of 
the  field  for  employing  capital,  which  would  come  by  the  crea- 
tion of  extensive  markets  for  the  purchase  of  cheap  corn  with 
the  produce  of  domestic  industry.  It  may  be  best  explained 
by  reference  to  some  facts.  Since  England  began  to  colonize, 
how  many  Englishmen  have  quitted  their  country  with  small 
fortunes,  and  returned  with  large  ones,  made  by  means  of  high 
profits  in  the  colonies!  In  the  West  India  islands  alone,  mil- 
lions upon  millions  of  English  capital  have  been  employed  with 
verv  great  profit;  millions  upon  millions,  which,  we  maybe 
sure,  would  not  have  been  removed  to  the  West  Indies  if  they 
could  have  been  invested  at  home  with  equal  profit.  An  ex- 
isting London  Company  has  more  than  doubled  its  capital  in  a 
few  years,  besides  paying  a  handsome  dividend  to  the  share- 
holders, by  the  purchase  and  sale  of  waste  land  in  Upper 
Canada.  In  1829,  the  Dutch  firm  of  Crommelin,  of  Amster- 
dam, advanced  1,500,000  dollars  to  some  colonists  in  America, 
for  the  purpose  of  making  a  canal.  This  money  is  securely 
invested,  and  yields  a  higher  interest  or  profit  than  it  would 
have  done  had  it  remained  in  Holland  ;  a  country  in  which,  as 
in  England,  capital  appears  to  increase  faster  than  the  fit-id  of 
production.  The  loan  lately  made  by  the  London  house  of 
Baring  Brothers,  to  the  Stale  of  Louisiana,  is  a  secure  and 
profitable  investment  of  English  capita]  in  the  improvement  of 
a  colony.  While  1  write,  the  firm  of  Thomas  Wilson  and  Co. 
II  negotiating  in  London  a  loan  of  'A, 500,000  dollars  to  the  State 
of  Alabama.  One  condition  of  this  loan,  evidently  devised  to 
tempt  the  capitalists  of  London,  is,  that  the  lenders  shall  not 
be  paid  off  for  thirty  years.  Examples  without  end  might  be 
adduced  of  profitable  investments  made  by  the  people  of  old 

states  in  new  Colonies;  and  made,  too,  without  any  perma- 
nent abstraction  of  capital  from  the  old  country.  That  great 
masses  of  English  capital  have  been  wasted  in  colonies  is  also 


THE    AKT    OF    COLONIZATION.  !255 

true.  Of  such  a  case,  the  absurd  proceedings  of  the  London 
Australian  Agricultural  Company,  and  the  capital  wasted  in 
foundingthe  Swan  River  settlement,  are  good  examples.  But 
those  sums  were  as  well  wasted  in  that  way,  as  if  they  had 
been  lent  to  Don  Miguel  or  Don  Pedro.  To  say  that  because 
English  capital  has  been  wasted  in  colonies,  no  more  capital 
ought  to  be  invested  in  that  way,  would  be  like  saying,  that 
because  Waterloo  bridge  yields  no  profit  to  those  who  built  it, 
no  more  bridges  ought  to  be  built.  How  English  capital  might 
be  securely  invested  in  colonies  without  loss,  with  certain 
profit ;  what  would  be  the  most  secure  and  profitable  mode 
of  investing  English  capital  in  colonies ;  these  are  questions 
which  belong  to  the  next  division  of  this  subject.  Here  it  is 
sufficient  to  have  shown,  by  the  above  examples,  that  colonies 
may  open  a  rich  and.  wide  field  for  employing  that  capital  of 
a  mother  country,  for  which  there  is  no  very  profitable  em- 
ployment at  home. 

All  these  ends  of  colonization,  the  extension  of  markets,  re- 
lief in  several  ways  from  excessive  numbers,  and  new  invest- 
ments for  capital,  may  now  be  brought  under  one  head  ; 
namely,  a  progressive  enlargement,  partly  domestic,  and  partly 
colonial,  of  the  field  for  employing  capital  and  labour.  The 
vast  importance  of  this  object,  to  a  country  situated  like  Eng- 
land, is  more  fully  explained  in  some  of  the  foregoing  notes. 

THE    ENDS    OF    COLONIZATION,    AS    RESPECTS    THE    COLONY. 

The  United  States  are  still  colonies,  according  to  the  sense 
in  which  the  word  is  used  here.  They  receive  people  from 
old  states,  and  send  out  a  much  greater  number  of  people  to 
settle  in  new  places.  For  promoting  the  immigration  of  capi- 
tal and  people,  the  motive  of  these  states  seems  to  be  precisely 
opposite  to  that  of  an  old  country  in  promoting  the  emigration 
of  capital  and  people.  The  old  country  wants  an  enlargement 
of  its  field  for  employing  capital  and  labour:  the  colonies  want 
more  capital  and  labour  for  cultivating  an  unlimited  field.  By 
pouring  capital  and  labour  into  England,  you  would  augment 
the  competition  and  uneasiness  of  capitalists,  as  well  as  the 
competition  and  misery  of  labourers :  by  pouring  capital  and 
labour  into  America,  you  would  increase  the  wealth  and  great- 
ness of  that  great  colony.  By  pouring  labour  only  into  Eng- 
land, you  would  not  increase  the  capital  of  that  country,  be- 
eati9e  the  increase  of  labour  would  not  find  employment ;  but, 
as  labour  creates  capital  before  capital  employs  labour,  and  as, 
in  America,  there  is  capital  enough  for  the  employment  of 
more  labour  and  room  for  the  employment  of  more  capital, 
therefore,  by  pouring  labour  only  into  America,  you  would 


25G  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

provide  more  capital  for  the  employment  of  still  more  labour. 
It  follows,  that  colonies  situated  like  the  United  States,  colo- 
nies, that  is,  which  already  possess  more  capital  than  labour, 
have  a  greater  interest  in  obtaining  labour  than  in  obtaining 
capital  from  old  countries  :  just  as  a  country  situated  like  Eng- 
land has  a  greater  interest  in  procuring  relief  from  excessive 
numbers,  than  from  the  competition  of  capital  with  capital.  As 
the  main  object  of  an  old  country  in  promoting  emigration  is  to 
send  forth  continually  all  that  portion  of  the  constantly  in- 
creasing labouring  class  for  which  there  is  not  employment 
with  good  wages,  so  the  main  object  of  a  colony  in  promoting 
the  immigration  of  people  is  to  obtain  as  much  labour  as  can 
find  employment  with  good  wages.  A  like  difference  of  ob- 
jects occurs  with  respect  to  new  markets,  and  especially  to 
those  in  which  corn  should  be  bought  or  sold.  The  object  of 
the  colony  is  to  buy  manufactured  goods  with  raw  produce 
and  corn  ;  that  of  the  old  country  to  buy  raw  produce  and 
corn  with  manufactured  goods :  the  object  of  the  colony  is  to 
obtain  more  labour,  wherewith  to  raise  the  means  of  buying 
manufactured  goods ;  that  of  the  old  country  to  obtain  cheap 
corn  wherewith  to  support  more  labourers  at  home.  But, 
though  two  persons  in  different  places  cannot  meet  without 
proceeding  in  opposite  directions ;  though,  if  they  intend  to 
meet,  the  object  of  one  is  to  go  in  one  direction,  and  the  object 
of  the  other  to  go  in  an  opposite  direction ;  still  they  have  a 
common  object,  that  of  meeting.  Just  so  in  colonization, 
though  the  immediate  object  of  an  old  state  be  to  send  out 
people,  and  that  of  a  colony  to  receive  people,  though  the 
colony  want  to  sell,  and  the  old  country  want  to  buy,  the 
means  of  life  ;  still  they  have  a  common  object,  that  of  increas- 
ing the  number  and  enjoyments  of  mankind.  Their  common 
object  is  to  give  full  play  to  the  principle  of  population,  so 
long  as  any  habitable  part  of  the  colony  remains  uninhabited. 
This  community  of  interest  becomes  still  more  plain,  when 
we  reflect  on  the  object  of  a  colony  in  removing  people  from 
the  settled  to  the  waste  parts  of  the  colony.  Here  the  imme- 
diate object  of  the  colony  is  the  very  same  as  that  of  the 
mother  country  :  an  enlargement  of  the  general  field  of  pro- 
duction in  proportion  to  the  general  increase  of  capital  and 
labour.  The  object  of  the  old  country  is,  that  room  should  he 
made  for  more  people  ;  that  of  the  colony  to  make  room  for 
more  people.     These  truisms  are  repeated,  because  it  will  be 

Useful    to   bear  tin  in    in    mind   when   we   shall    come    to    the 

means  of  colonization;  and  because,  hitherto,  those  who  have 

had   the  menus  of  colonization   at   their  disposal  would   seem 

never  to  have  heard  of  these  men;  truisms. 

With  a  view  also  to  saving  time  when  we  shall  come  to  the 


THE    ART   OF    COLONIZATION.  257 

means  of  colonization,  it  will  be  well  to  notice  here,  in  a  more 
particular  way,  some  of  the  special  objects  of  a  colony  in  pro- 
moting the  immigration  of  people. 

I  have  attempted  to  prove  elsewhere,  that  want  of  free 
labour  is  the  cause  of  slavery  in  America  ;  not  the  clearness  of 
labour,  but  the  want  of  free  labour  at  any  price.  Why  do  the 
settlers  in  New  South  Wales,  having  capital,  dread  above  all 
things  that  the  English  government  should  cease  to  pour  into 
that  colony  a  stream  of  population  utterly  depraved  and  irre- 
claimable ?  The  criminal  code  of  England  is  more  bloody 
than  that  of  any  other  country  which  has  a  code  of  laws ;  but 
in  New  South  Wales,  the  proportion  of  public  executions  to 
public  executions  in  England  is,  I  believe,  allowing  for  the  dif- 
ference of  numbers,  in  the  ratio  of  325  to  1.  This  is  partly 
accounted  for  when  we  reflect,  that,  of  the  convicts  sent  to 
New  South  Wales,  nine  out  often  are  men,  brought  to  that 
pass,  most  of  them,  by  the  violence  of  their  passions ;  nine 
men  to  one  woman  ;  men  accustomed  to  unbridled  indulgence 
and  reckless  of  all  social  ties.  The  result  need  not  be  de- 
scribed. Nor  is  it  difficult  to  account  for  the  attachment  of 
the  English  government  to  this  system  of  reformation.  If 
English  convicts  were  punished  by  imprisonment  at  home, 
though  the  English  aristocracy  would  have  to  bestow  upon 
their  dependents  more  places,  such  as  that  of  jailer  or  turnkey, 
they  would  miss  the  disposal  of  a  number  of  places  such  as 
gentlemen  will  accept.  The  governor  of  New  South  Wales 
is  a  jailer  ;  but,  being  called  Your  Excellency,  and  paid  accord- 
ingly, he  is  thankful  for  his  place  ;  as  thankful  as  any  one  ever 
is  for  a  place  which  he  has  obtained  by  electioneering  services. 
But  how  are  we  to  account  for  the  attachment  of  the  richer 
colonists  to  this  horrid  system  of  transportation  ?  By  their 
want  of  free  labour ;  by  their  anxiety  to  keep  that  slave- 
labour,  without  which  each  of  them  could  use  no  more  capital 
than  his  own  hands  could  employ.  They  say,  and  with  per- 
fect truth,  that  if  the  supply  of  convicts  were  stopped  the  colony 
would  be  ruined.  Assuredly  the  colony  would  be  ruined,  un- 
less the  richer  settlers  should  find  the  means  of  obtaining  either 
free  labour,  or  that  kind  of  slave-labour  which  they  have  in 
America. 

But  even  with  the  convict  system,  there  is  a  deficiency  of 
labour.  In  Van  Dieman's  Land  it  is  common  to  see  one,  two, 
or  three  thousand  sheep  all  in  one  flock,  the  old  and  the  young, 
the  strong  and  the  weak,  all  mixed  together.  While  feeding, 
the  strongest  of  a  flock,  so  mixed,  always  take  the  van,  the 
weakest  always  bringing  up  the  rear.  Thus  a  great  number  of 
the  lambs,  or  weaker  sheep,  are  starved  to  death ;  and  of  course, 
the  profits  of  the  owner  of  the  flock  are  by  60  much  dimin- 


258  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

ished.  Why  is  this  loss  incurred  ?  for  want  of  more  shep- 
herds ;  of  more  labour.  If  there  were  in  Van  Dieman's  Land 
shepherds  enough  to  manage  all  the  flocks  in  the  best  way,  the 
increase  of  produce  would  give  higher  wages  to  the  greater 
number  of  labourers,  besides  augmenting  the  profits  of  the 
flock  owners.  The  soil  and  climate  of  New  South  Wales 
appear  admirably  suited  to  the  growth  of  tobacco,  olive  oil, 
silk,  and  wine.  A  London  company  has  spent  near  300,000/. 
with  an  intention,  declared  by  its  prospectus,  of  growing  all 
these  things  in  New  South  Wales.  Why  has  it  not  grown  any 
of  these  things  ?  Because  for  the  growth  of  any  of  these 
things  constant  and  combined  labour  is  required;  an  element 
of  production  wanting  in  New  South  Wales.  Convict  labour, 
though  constant  when  compared  with  such  labour  as  is  got  by 
the  occasional  immigration  of  free  workmen,  is  very  inconstant 
when  compared  with  the  labour  of  negro  slaves.  The  convict 
works  only  so  long  as  his  term  of  punishment  lasts,  and  for  one 
master  only  so  long  as  the  governor  pleases,  or  the  secretary  of 
the  governor,  or  the  superintendent  of  convicts,  or  some  mem- 
ber of  the  colonial  council ;  any  one  of  whom  may  suddenly, 
and  without  rhyme  or  reason,  deprive  a  settler  of  his  convict 
servants.  While  slave  labour  may  be  combined  in  quantities 
proportioned  to  the  capitalist's  means  of  buying  slaves,  convict 
labour  can  never  be  combined  in  large  quantities;  because,  as 
the  government  bestows  this  labour,  if  any  one  settler  should 
obtain  more  than  his  due  share  of  convicts,  all  the  others  would 
complain  of  gross  partiality ;  and  because  the  proportion  of 
convicts  to  settlers  is  so  small,  that  without  gross  partiality  no 
one  settler  can  have  more  than  a  few  pairs  of  convict  hands. 
Favoured  settlers,  those  who  find  favour  with  the  governor  and 
his  officers,  do  often  obtain  more  than  a  fair  share  of  convicts  ; 
but,  as  the  favour  of  governors  is  uncertain,  no  motive  is  fur- 
nished, even  in  these  cases  of  gross  partiality,  for  the  com- 
mencement of  works  which  require  the  constant  employment  of 
many  hands,  at  the  same  time,  in  the  same  place,  and  for  a 
period  of  consecutive  years.  How,  says  Mr.  Blazland,  a  great 
land  proprietor  of  New  South  Wales;  how  should  our  settlers 
undertake  to  plant  vineyards,  when  years  must  pass  before  any 
win*'  could  be  got  :   \«',irs  during  which  much  labour   must  be 

employed  in  tending  the  vines;  when,  for  gathering  the  grapes 
ami  turning  them  into  wine,  much  more  labour  would  be  re- 
quired ;  and  when,  in  this  colony,  the  supply  of  labour  is 
always  not  only  small,  but  uncertain?*  This  is  why  the 
Australian  agricultural  company  has  not  raised  any  exchange- 

•  1  quota  from  recollection  <>r  ;i  paper  printed  by  Mr.  Wilmol   ll<>rion,  con- 
taining Minutes  of  a  Conversation  between  himself  and  Mr.  Blazland. 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  259 

able  produce  ;  save  wool,  which,  in  a  country  like  New  South 
Wales,  naturally  clear  and  dry,  may  be  raised  with  very  little 
labour:  this  is  why  the  greater  part  of  the  300,010/.  spent  by 
that  company  has  been  utterly  wasted  ;  is  gone  to  nothing. 

Why  has  so  much  of  the  capital  perished  that  was  taken  to 
the  Swan  River  ?  for  want  of  labour  wherewith  to  preserve  it. 
Why  do  the  few  settlers  that  remain  in  that  colony  wish  for  a 
supply  of  convict  labour  ?  because  they  have  no  free  labour. 

In  Canada,  as  in  the  United  States,  there  is  a  want  of  free 
labour  for  works  which  require  the  combination  of  many  hands 
and  division  of  employments.  The  canals  which  the  English 
government  has  lately  formed  in  Canada  could  not  have  been 
finished,  or  perhaps  begun,  without  a  supply  of  labour  from 
Ireland.  The  great  Lake  Erie  canal,  a  work  of  which  the 
public  advantage,  and  the  profit  to  the  undertakers,  was  made 
manifest  upon  paper  long  before  the  work  was  begun,  could  not 
perhaps  have  been  begun,  most  certainly  could  not  have  been 
finished,  without  a  great  supply  of  Irish  labour.  Capital  from 
Amsterdam  and  London,  and  labour  from  Ireland,  have  lately 
been  of  infinite  service  to  the  United  States.  Theirs  is  the 
most  favourable  case.  In  all  the  more  favourable  cases,  the 
difficulty  is  for  masters  to  get  servants.  In  the  less  favourable 
cases,  such  as  Buenos  Ayrcs  and  the  Swan  River,  the  difficulty 
would  be  for  servants  to  find  masters.  In  the  worst  cases  want 
of  labour  leads  to  want  of  capital,  and  condemns  the  people  to 
a  state  of  poverty  and  barbarism  :  in  the  best  cases  the  people 
would  be  more  wealthy,  would  produce  and  enjoy  more,  if 
they  were  more  numerous  in  proportion  to  capital.  All  the 
more  favourable  cases  are  maintained  by  some  expedient,  which 
more  or  less  counteracts  the  want  of  labour ;  in  the  United 
States  by  slavery  and  the  immigration  of  people ;  in  New 
South  Wales  and  Van  Dieman's  land  by  the  convict  system  ; 
in  Canada  by  a  constant  immigration  of  labour  by  sea,  greater 
than  ever  took  place  before  in  the  history  of  colonization.  If 
the  means  by  which  the  United  States,  Canada,  and  New 
South  Wales  obtain  labour,  should  be  taken  away,  no  others 
being  supplied,  then  must  those  colonies  soon  fall  into  the  mis- 
erable state  of  other  colonies  which  have  never  had  any  means 
of  obtaining  labour.  In  a  word,  from  whatever  point  of  view 
we  look  at  this  subject,  it  appears  that  the  great  want  of  colo- 
nies is  labour,  the  original  purchase-money  of  all  things. 

THE    MEANS    OF    COLONIZATION. 

The  elements  of  colonization,  it  is  quite  obvious,  are  waste 
land  and  the  removal  of  people.  If  there  were  no  waste  land, 
no  people  would  remove  ;  if  no  people  would  remove,  waste  land 


2G0  THE    ART  OF    COLONIZATION. 

must  remain  in  a  desert  state.  Waste  land  is  cultivated  by  the 
removal  of  people,  and  people  are  removed  by  means  of  the 
motive  to  removal  furnished  by  the  existence  of  waste  land. 
Capital  for  the  removal  of  people,  and  for  the  settlement  of 
people  on  waste  land,  being  included  in  the  ideas  of  removal 
and  settlement ;  the  means  of  colonization,  it  follows  inevitably, 
will  resolve  themselves  into  the  disposal  of  waste  land  for  the 
removal  of  people.  A  notice  of  some  facts  will  illustrate  this 
proposition. 

The  moving  power  for  founding  the  first  English  colony  in 
America  that  did  not  perish,  was  a  grant  by  James  I.,  to  the 
London  Company,  of  five  degrees  of  waste  land  in  Virginia. 
The  power  of  the  king  to  dispose  of  waste  land  induced  the 
company  to  form  the  project  of  founding  a  colony  :  the  power 
thus  obtained  by  the  company  to  dispose  of  waste  land,  en- 
abled them  to  find  people  willing  to  emigrate,  and  capital  for 
their  removal  and  settlement.  Just  so,  in  the  case  of  the  last 
colony  founded  by  England,  those  who  founded  the  colony 
were  induced  to  remove  by  receiving  grants  of  waste  land  from 
the  English  government.  Mr.  Peel's  motive  for  removing  to 
the  Swan  River  with  a  capital  of  50,000/.  and  some  hundred 
people,  was  a  grant  of  500,000  acres  of  waste  land ;  and  the 
motive  with  which  thosr>  poople  accompanied  him  was  the  hope 
of  high  wages  for  cultivating  waste  land,  or  the  prospect  of 
obtaining  waste  land  of  their  own.  So  also,  last  year,  when 
an  English  company  offered  Lord  Goderich  125,000/.  for 
500,000  acres  of  land  at  Spencer's  Gulf,  on  the  south  coast  of 
Australia,  intending  to  lay  out  375,000/.  more  in  planting  a 
colony  on  that  desert  spot,  the  motive  of  those  projectors  was 
to  obtain  waste  land.  Of  the  125,000  people  who  are  sup- 
posed to  have  emigrated  from  Britain  last  year  to  settle  in  the 
United  States,  Canada,  and  Australia,  the  greater  number  were 
induced  to  remove  by  the  prospect  of  obtaining  waste  land, 
and  the  remainder  by  a  prospect  of  benefits  to  result  to  them 
from  the  disposal  of  waste  land  in  the  countries  where  they 
should  settle.  The  greatest  emigration  of  people  that  ever 
took  place  in  the  world  occurs  from  the  eastern  states  to  the 
outside  of  the  western  states  of  America;  and  here  tho  sole 
object  in  removing  is  either  to  obtain  waste  land,  or  to  reap 
ben.  iii-  iii  some  other  shape  from  the  late  disposal  of  waste 
land.     It  seems  needless  to  multiply  such  examples. 

The  disposal  of  waste  land  lor  the  removal  of  people  might 
Ih-  considered  in  two  different  points  of  -\  lew  :  first,  as  that  ele- 
ment of  colonization  is  liable  to  be  used  by  an  old  state;  and 
mdly,  as  it  is  liable  to  he  used  by  a  colony.  Both 
these  ways  of  examining  the  subject  would  lead  to  the  same 
conclusion.     For  instance,  we  should  determine  the  best  mode 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  2GI 

of  treating  waste  land,  either  by  ascertaining  how  the  United 
States  might  best  dispose  of  waste  land  for  the  removal  of 
people,  or  how  the  English,  with  the  same  object,  might  best 
dispose  of  waste  land  in  Canada  or  Australia.  But  considering 
that  the  removal  of  people  is  a  secondary  means  of  coloniza- 
tion, depending  on  the  disposal  of  waste  land  ;  seeing  that  it  is 
waste  land  which  draws  people  from  the  settled  to  the  waste 
parts  of  the  colony,  and  so  makes  room  for  the  arrival  of  peo- 
ple from  an  old  country,  and  that  this  prime  mover,  or  point  of 
attraction,  exists  in  the  colony,  it  will  be  found  much  more  con- 
venient to  look  at  the  means  of  colonization  from  a  colonial 
position.  If  this  course  had  been  pursued  before,  the  English 
would  not  have  been  as  ignorant  as  they  are  of  the  political 
economy  of  new  countries.  Their  economists,  in  treating  of 
colonies,  have  worked  with  no  other  tools  than  those  which 
they  were  accustomed  to  use  in  explaining  the  phenomena 
of  an  old  country  ;  have  reasoned  from  principles,  that  were 
true  in  the  old  country,  to  facts  that  never  existed  in  the 
colony.  They  remind  one  of  an  Englishman  who,  having 
been  used  to  the  luxury  of  music,  carried  a  grand  upright  piano 
to  the  Swan  River,  and  then,  finding  nobody  to  make  a  cup- 
board for  him,  was  fain  to  gut  the  musical  instrument,  and  use 
it  for  holding  his  crockery;  or  of  that  English  colonial  minister, 
who,  knowing  that  in  Europe  the  seas  are  salt,  sent  wTater-butts 
from  England  for  the  use  of  the  English  fleet  on  a  fresh  water 
sea  in  America.  By  looking  at  this  subject  from  a  colonial  po- 
sition, we  shall  proceed  from  facts  to  conclusions.  Whatever 
course  it  would  be  best  for  the  United  States  to  pursue  for 
drawing  people  from  England  to  America,  would  be  the  best 
course  that  the  English  could  pursue  for  sending  people  to 
Canada  or  Australia.  Having  ascertained  what  this  best  course 
is  it  will  be  easy  to  apply  to  our  conclusions  the  foundation  of 
colonies  ;  and  to  show  how  an  old  state  might  best  co-operate 
with  a  colony  for  giving  to  the  means  of  colonization  their 
greatest  possible  effect. 

1.   The  disposal  of  waste  land. 

It  is  not  because  land  is  uncultivated,  nor  even  because  it  is 
uninhabited,  that  it  forms  an  element  of  colonization.  The 
greater  part  of  Prince  Edward's  Island,  in  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence,  though  neither  cultivated  nor  inhabited,  still,  being 
the  private  property  of  two  English  lords,*  is  not  liable  to  be 
used  for  the  removal  of  people  :  nor,  indeed,  is  any  land,  to 
which  no  government  can  give  a  title  of  possession  ;  since  the 

*  Melville  and  Westmoreland. 


2G2 


TIIL    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 


motive  for  removing  to  waste  land  is  the  prospect  of  obtaining 
a  property  in  the  land.  Considering  how  much  land  in  Amer- 
ica, South  Africa,  and  Australia,  is  open  to  be  used  by  indi- 
viduals without  a  title  to  the  possession  of  it,  it  would  be  sur- 
prising that  so  few  people  should  ever  have  used  land  without 
a  title,  if  we  did  not  reflect,  also,  on  the  influence  of  that  "  charm 
of  property,"  which,  says  M.  Dumont,  "  is  the  spur  of  youth 
and  pillow  of  old  age."  Those  Americans  who,  under  the 
name  of  squatters,  use  land  without  a  title,  are  exceptions  to 
the  general  rule.  Their  motives  for  acting  differently  from 
people  in  general  will  be  noticed  hereafter.  But  while,  speak- 
ing generally,  people  will  not  use  land  without  a  title,  they  will 
obtain  a  title  to  land  without  using  their  property,  or  to  more 
land  than  they  can  possibly  use.  The  English  company  which 
founded  Virginia  would  have  preferred  a  grant  of  all  America 
to  a  grant  of  five  degrees.  Lower  Canada  is  not  the  only 
English  colony  in  which  English  lords  have  obtained  great 
tracts  of  land,  without  using,  or  even  intending  to  use,  their 
property.  An  Englishman,  calling  himself  the  Earl  of  Stir- 
ling, lately  took  much  pains  to  make  out  a  property  in  all  the 
land  of  Upper  Canada.  The  clergy  of  the  political  church  in 
Upper  Canada  have  obtained  a  property  in  vast  tracts  of  land 
which  they  cannot  use.  General  Lafayette  lately  accepted 
from  the  United  States  3(10,000  acres  of  waste  land  which  he 
cannot  or  will  not  use.  In  1824,  the  Australian  Agricultural 
Company  and  the  Van  Dieman's  Land  Company,  both  of  Lon- 
don, obtained,  the  one,  1,000,000,  the  other,  500,000  acres  of 
waste  land,  when  it  was  impossible  they  should  turn  a  fourth 
part  of  those  great  tracts  to  any  useful  purpose.  The  first  im- 
migrants to  the  Swan  River  obtained  more  land  than  a  thou- 
sand times  as  many  people  could  have  cultivated.  In  all  these 
cases  and  in  a  countless  number  more,  so  much  of  the  chief 
element  of  the  primary  means  of  colonization  was  annihilated 
Nay,  further,  in  most  of  them,  the  destruction  was  extended  for 
a  time  to  land  that  was  not  granted  ;  as,  for  instance,  at  the 
Swan  River,  where  a  broad  stripe  of  the  coast,  not  being  used, 
being  almost  without  inhabitants,  and  <|uite  without  roads,  he- 
came,  when  it  became  the  property  of  individuals,  a  bar  to  the 
disposal  of  land  more  in  the  interior;  land  which,  if  the  coast 
were  inhabited  and  easily  passable,  might  be  disposed  of  for  the 
removal  of  people.  For  the  Bame  reason,  General  Lafayette 
ha-  been  requested  to  sell  his  grant  to  people  who  will  use  it  ; 
because,  thai  is,  being  at  once  desert  and  private  property,  it 
is  a  bar  to  the  progress  of  settlement  in  all  directions  towards 
its  centre.     This  again  is  the  case  w  ith  the  lands  of  the  clergy 

in  Canada;  and  with  a  still  more  absurd  kind  of  property 
created  in  that  colony  ;  namely,  tracts  of  land  "  reserved"  by 


THE   AUT    OF    COLONIZATION.  203 

the  crown  in  the  midst  of  land  which  has  become  the  property 
of  individuals.  In  this  last  case  the  government  behaves 
worse  than  the  dog  in  the  manger,  who  only  prevented  others 
from  using  that  which  he  could  not  use  himself.  Besides  doing 
this,  the  government  of  Canada  injures  all  the  people  who  sur- 
round its  reserves  of  land,  by  interposing  deserts  among  them : 
it  is  as  if  the  dog  had  bitten  the  cattle,  besides  hindering  them 
from  eating  the  hay.  As  flour  is  an  element  of  bread,  so  is 
waste  land  an  element  of  colonization  ;  but  as  flour,  which  has 
been  turned  into  pie-crust,  will  not  make  bread,  so  neither  is 
waste  land,  which  has  become  private  property,  an  element  of 
colonization.  It  is  the  disposal  of  waste  land  in  a  certain  way, 
which  is  the  primary  means  of  colonization;  and  when  the 
land  has  been  disposed  of  in  another  way,  the  power  to  dis- 
pose of  it  in  the  right  way  no  longer  exists.  Land,  to  be  an 
element  of  colonization,  must  not  only  be  waste,  but  it  must  be 
public  property,  liable  to  be  converted  into  private  property  for 
the  end  in  view.  In  the  art  of  colonization,  therefore,  the  first 
rule  is  of  a  negative  kind  :  it  is,  that  governments,  having  power 
over  waste  land,  and  seeking  to  promote  the  removal  of  people, 
should  never  throw  away  any  of  that  power ;  should  never 
dispose  of  waste  land  except  for  the  object  in  view,  for  the  re- 
moval of  people,  for  the  greatest  progress  of  colonization. 

This  rule  has  never  been  strictly  observed  by  any  colonizing 
government :  it  has  been  grossly  neglected  by  all  such  govern- 
ments, excepting  only  the  United  States,  which,  since  they  be- 
came entirely  independent,  have  been  more  cautious  than  any 
other  colonizing  government  ever  was  about  the  disposal  of 
waste  land.  One  or  two  examples  of  this  neglect,  and  this  cau- 
tion, will  assist  us  in  determining  in  what  way  a  government 
ought  to  dispose  of  waste  land  with  a  view  to  colonization. 

The  most  striking  instance  of  the  neglect  of  this  rule  has 
occurred  in  the  Dutch  colony  of  South  Africa.  Here,  we  are 
informed  by  Mr.  Barrow,  in  the  account  of  his  travels  through 
that  colony,  the  colonial  government,  having  absolute  control 
over  all  the  land  in  that  country,  disposed  of  that  land  in  the 
following  way.  They  first  declared  that  any  one  desirous  to 
obtain  land  should  be  at  liberty  to  do  so  on  one  condition; 
namely,  that  of  taking  a  hundred  times,  at  least,  more  land  than 
he  could  possibly  cultivate.  The  whole  district  to  be  granted 
was  marked  out  in  cjrcles,  the  diameter  of  each  circle  beino- 
some  miles  ;  and  any  one  who  undertook  to  live  in  the  centre 
of  one  of  those  circles  obtained  a  title  to  all  the  land  within 
the  circle.  What  became  of  the  land  between  the  circles  is 
not  stated  ;  but  all  these  interstices  must  necessarily  have  been 
son uny  "crown  reserves."  The  object  of  this  system  was 
to  separate  those  who  should  become  proprietors  ;  to  separate 


264  THE    ART   OF    COLONIZATION. 

them  all  from  each  other,  by  a  distance  equal  to  the  diameter 
of  the  circles ;  and  the  motive  for  this  object  was  fear  lest,  if 
the  colonists  were  not  so  separated,  they  might,  as  union  is 
force,  be  strong  enough  to  think  of  self-government.  This 
object  was  fully  accomplished,  and  the  colony  was  effectually 
ruined.  All  the  land  so  granted,  though  scarcely  inhabited, 
still  less  cultivated,  ceased,  by  this  manner  of  disposing  of  it, 
to  be  an  element  of  colonization.  That  such  a  disposal  of  the 
land  had  no  tendency  to  promote  the  removal  of  people,  save 
only  that  of  the  few  persons  thus  scattered  over  the  colony, 
becomes  plain  when  we  reflect,  that  there  can  be  but  one  mo- 
tive for  emigrating  to  a  place  where  all  the  land  has  become 
private  property,  namely,  the  hope  of  obtaining  high  wages ; 
and  that  a  few  scattered  settlers  were  necessarily  prevented, 
even  by  their  dispersion,  from  accumulating  capital  wherewith 
to  pay  high  wages  to  immigrant  labourers.  If  they  had  not 
obtained  some  slaves,  that  is,  some  combination  of  labour  in  i  lie 
particular  works  of  their  farms,  they  would,  being  so  scattered, 
and  prevented  from  combining  their  own  labour,  have  degene- 
rated into  the  state  of  those  savage  descendants  of  Spaniards, 
who  inhabit  the  plains  of  Buenos  Ayres.  As  it  was,  a  more 
ignorant  and  brutal  race  of  men  than  the  boors  or  farmers  of 
South  Africa  never,  perhaps,  existed.  The  poverty  and  bar- 
barism of  that  country,  the  unfitness  of  the  greater  part  of  it 
for  the  work  of  colonization,  are  owing,  not  as  has  been  sup- 
posed, for  the  want  of  a  better  reason,  to  the  badness  of  its 
soil  and  climate  (for  these  very  much  resemble  those  of  Spain), 
but  to  the  neglect,  by  its  early  governments,  of  the  first  rule  in 
the  art  of  colonization.* 

*  "The  white  population  at  present  (1S23),  is  estimated  at  about  70,000.  In 
1806,  it  was  not  more  than  27,000.  From  a  variety  of  causes,  some  permanent, 
others  accidental,  they  have  hecn  scattered  over  a  larger  space  than  was  <  i  nsistent 
with  mutual  aid  and  support.  Thisretarded  i ho  progressive  division  of  labour, 
and  exposed  the  solitary  settler  to  many  dangers  and  privations,  which  did  not 
operate  beneficially  on  his  habits  of  Industry.  Instead  of  trying  how  much 
produce  of  cvcr\  kiml  they  could  raise,  they  were  rather  led  i"  consider  on  how 
little  they  could  subsist.  The  Limits  of  the  settlement  being,  perhaps,  too  rapidly 
extended,  rendered  defence,  rather  than  cultivation,  the  chief  objeel  of  public 
attention.  It  is  no)  meant  that  the  settlers  should  have  been  crowded  together. 
Tin-  nature  ofthecolonj  rendered  thai  impossible.  Itut  for  Bome  time  no 
moderation  ww  observed  mthis  rrvjin-i  ;  and  /'  of  capital,  and  mis- 

applieatioi  '  .  were  the  consequence.     The  increase  of 

population,  provided  the  boundaries  lie  now  6xed  and  adhered  to,  will  gradually 
correcl  iliis  evil,  and  bring  both  labour  and  a  markePnwre  and  mure  within  the 
1 1  these  views  oJ  the  colony  be  near  the  truth,  it  will  be 
worth  considering  whether,  when  new  settlers  are  to  It  provided  for,  it  would 
not  be  better  to  select  locations  lor  them  in  detail,  as  near  the  villages,  and  Cape 
Town  found,  than  to  set  them  down  in  masses  i>\  themselves 

on  the  outskirts  hi  the  colony,  or  beyond  its  peopled  limits.  In  such  situ. -it  inns 
they  an  doI  mi  ■  oul  ;i  burthi  n  to  tin- 1  ommunity  lor  many  yean — 

requiring  new  and  expensive  establishments  for  their  protection,  besides  tmtt» 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  265 

If  the  first  Dutch  governor  of  New- York  had  been  able,  lie 
would  probably  have  been  willing  enough  to  ruin  that  colony 
by  planting  each  of  the  first  settlers  in  the  centre  of  a  ircle 
nine  or  twelve  miles  round ;  but  here,  fortunately,  the  warlike 
temper  of  the  natives,  and  the  extreme  denseness  of  the 
forests,  made  it  impossible  to  execute  such  a  contrivance  for 
ruining  the  colony.  Though,  in  this  case,  the  first  settlers 
were  allowed  to  appropriate  much  more  bind  than  they  could 
possibly  use,  still  they  were  allowed  to  settle  whereabouts  they 
pleased.  In  fear  of  the  natives,  and  checked  by  the  density 
of  the  forests,  they  settled  not  very  far  from  each  other,  and 
were  thus  enabled  to  hold  some  intercourse  with  each  other, 
to  assist  each  other  in  some  degree,  to  accumulate  some  capital, 
to  preserve  in  some  degree  the  arts  and  civilization  of  their 
mother  country.  In  this  case,  circumstances  independent  of 
the  government  created  a  sort  of  rule  for  the  disposal  of  waste 
land.  This  case  is  not,  therefore,  an  example  of  attention  in 
a  government  to  the  first  rule  in  the  art  of  colonization  :  it  is 
mentioned  by  way  of  contrast  with  the  preceding  case  ;  a  con- 
trast the  more  remarkable,  since  the  miserable  colony  of  South 
Africa  and  the  prosperous  colony  of  New- York  were  founded 
by  the  same  industrious,  skilful,  and  thrifty  nation. 

Two  examples  of  some  caution  on  the  part  of  colonial 
governments  in  disposing  of  waste  land  may  now  be  cited,  in 
contrast  with  examples  of  reckless  profusion. 

1.  Up  to  the  year  1822,  thirty-four  years  after  the  first  set- 
tlement in  New  South  Wales,  and  when  the  prosperity  of  the 
free  settlers  in  that  colony  was  a  subject  of  great  admiration 
in  England,  the  quantity  of  waste  land  disposed  of  by  the  gov- 
ernment was  381,466  acres;  less  than  the  one  grant  obtained 
by  Mr.  Peel  before  he  left  England  for  the  Swan  River. 
Shortly  afterward,  Lord  Bathurst,  the  English  colonial  minis- 
ter, living  in  London,  and  knowing  as  much  about  New  South 
Wales  as  about  Japan  or  the  moon,  disposed  of  a  million  of 

ing  their  own  money  in  fruitless  undertakings,  begun  from  mere  ignorance  of 
the  resources  of  the  country.  There  appears  to  be  abundance  of  unappropriated 
land,  or  at  least  of  unoccupied,  or  at  all  events,  of  uncultivated  land,  in  most  of 
the  settled  districts,  on  which  many  thousands  of  industrious  people  might  be 
placed,  most  advantageously  to  the  old  inhabitants,  and  with  much  surer  pros- 
pect of  providing  for  themselves  and  their  families  all  the  necessaries  of  life, 
than  in  the  remote  places  to  which  M<  stream  of  emigration  is  too  often  directed. 
It  is  true,  the  best  places  in  those  districts  have  fallen  to  the  lot  of  the  first 
settlers.  But  locations  of  the  second,  third,  or  foinlh  quality,  as  regards  soil, 
&c.  near  a  good  road  or  a  town,  may  exceed  in  value,  a  thousand-fold,  those  of 
the  Jirst  description,  which  possess  no  such  advantages." — Extract  from  the 
South  African  Commercial  ,-li/r.  i  tiscr  ;  a  Journal  conducted  by  an  Englishman 
of  great  intelligence  and  ability  ;  a  politic. 1  economist  too,  who,  until  he  saw  a 
new  country,  would  have  commenced  an  explanation  of  the  English  theory  of 
rent,  saying  with  Mr.  Mill — "  Land  is  of  different  degrees  of  fertility." 

31 


266  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

acres  in  a  single  grant.  In  one  day,  then,  twice  as  much  land 
was  granted  as  had  been  granted  in  thirty-four  years.  Up  to 
1S22,  all  the  land  in  New  South  Wales,  except  less  than 
400,000  acres,  was  liable  to  be  disposed  of  as  a  means  of 
colonization.  In  18*28,  when  the  population  of  the  colony  was 
little  more  than  in  1822,  the  number  of  acres  rendered  not 
liable  to  be  disposed  of  for  the  removal  of  people  was  nearly 
3.000,000.  That  the  greater  part  of  this  land  was  not  used  by 
any  one,  appears  from  an  official  return,  which  states  that  only 
a  forty-first  part  of  it,  or  71,523  acres,  was  cultivated.  Al- 
lowing for  the  very  slight  interference  with  nature,  which  is 
termed  cultivation  in  New  South  Wales,  and  for  the  turn  of 
colonial  governments  to  exaggerate  the  prosperity  of  the  people 
ruled  by  them,  we  may  perhaps  conclude  that  not  so  much  as 
a  forty-first  part  of  these  3,000,000  acres  was  used  beneficially. 
If  so,  in  1828,  more  than  forty  parts  out  of  forty-one,  of  the 
land  granted  by  the  government  of  New  South  Wales,  had 
been  disposed  of  so  as  to  render  them  no  longer  an  element  of 
colonization,  without  rendering  them  useful  to  any  other  pur- 
pose. The  profusion  of  the  government  after  1822,  arose 
from  the  publication  of  Mr.  Went  worth's  book  on  New  South 
Wales.  Mr.  Wentworth  informed  people  in  England,  that 
land  in  New  South  Wales  was  worth  something;  that  of  the 
400,000  acres  then  granted,  thousands  of  acres,  being  near  to 
a  market,  yielded  rent;  that  an  estate  in  New  South  Wales 
was  a  good  thing  to  have,  especially  if  it  could  be  got  for 
nothing.  All  at  once,  the  colonial  office  in  London  was  be- 
Bieged  by  applicants  wanting  land  in  New  South  Wales. 
What  way  so  easy  of  gratifying  a  friend  of  government, 
or  the  friends  and  relatives  of  the  friends  and  members  of 
government  ?  Immense  grants,  accordingly,  were  made  ; 
some,  indeed,  to  people  who  emigrated,  but  some  to  lords  and 
members  of  parliament  who  never  thought  of  emigrating.  In 
this  way  the  colony  would  have  been  ruined,  but  for  the  pecu- 
liar circumstances  before  alluded  to,  which  supply  the  colonists 
with  labour,  keep  them  together,  and  provide  them  with  a 
market. 

2.  Between  the  modes  of  granting  land  on  the  Canadian  and 
American  sides  of  the  line,  which  divides  Upper  Canada  from 
the  Slate  of  New- York,  there  has  existed  until  lately  a  very 
remarkable  contrast.  On  the  Canadian  side,  crown  and  clergy 
"  reserves  ;"  unconditional  grants  of  vast  tracts  to  any  one  who 
could  find  favour  with  the  English  minister  or  colonial  gover- 
nor :  grants  of  smaller  tracts,  but  still  without  conditions,  to 
disbanded  Boldiers,  military  pensioners,  and  pauper  immi- 
grants; in  a  word,  the  greatest  prolusion:  on  the  American 
side,  n  system,  nearly  fixed  and  uniform,  one  general  and  un- 


THE    AUT    OP    COLONIZATION.  2G7 

varying  rule,  with  few  exceptions,  for  the  granting  of  land  ;  an 
act  of  congress,  which  decrees  that  no  waste  land  shall  be  dis- 
posed of  except  by  a  special  grant  of  Congress,  or  upon  pay- 
ment b^  the  grantee  to  the  government  of  a  dollar  and  a 
quarter  per  acre.  The  special  grants  by  Congress  are  few 
and  far  between  ;  while  the  price  put  upon  all  other  waste 
land  operates  as  a  check,  almost  as  a  bar,  to  the  appropriation 
of  land  by  persons  not  able,  or  not  willing,  to  use  their  prop- 
erty. Mr.  Stuart,  after  describing  various  marks  of  industry 
and  growing  wealth  on  the  American  side  of  the  line,  says : 
"  We  crossed  the  river  *  *  *  *  *  The  country  we 
passed  through  (on  the  Canadian  side)  was  greatly  over- 
cropped, with  little  appearance  of  industry  or  exertion  to  re- 
claim it.  Whenever  the  stage  stopped  to  water  the  horses, 
the  doors  were  crowded  with  children,  offering  apples  and 
plums  for  sale  ;  and  we  saw,  for  the  first  time  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic,  several  beggars."*  The  following  account  of  the 
difference  between  the  American  and  Canadian  sides  of  the 
line,  in  point  of  industry  and  wealth,  is  given  by  Mr.  Picker- 
ing; a  careful  observer,  with  strong  prejudices  against  the 
Americans.  "I  am  once  again  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
British  government  and  laws,  and  therefore  feel  myself  no 
longer  an  alien.  Though  the  Americans,  in  general,  are  civil 
and  friendly,  still  an  Englishman,  himself  a  stranger  among 
them,  is  annoyed  and  disgusted  by  their  vaunts  of  prowess  in 
the  late  puny  war,  and  superiority  over  all  other  nations  ;  and 
they  assume  it  as  a  self-evident  fact,  that  the  Americans  sur- 
pass all  others  in  virtue,  wisdom,  valour,  liberty,  government, 
and  every  other  excellence.  Yet,  much  as  the  Americans  de- 
serve ridicule  for  this  foible,  still  1  admire  the  energy  and  en- 
terprise everywhere  exhibited,  and  regret  the  apathy  of  the 
British  government  with  regard  to  the  improvement  of  this 
province.  A  single  glance  down  the  banks  of  the  Niagara 
tells  on  which  side  the  most  efficient  government  has  resided. 
On  the  United  States  side,  large  towns  springing  up :  the 
numerous  shipping,  with  piers  to  protect  them  in  harbour; 
coaches  rattling  along  the  road  ;  and  trade  evidenced  by 
wagons,  carts,  horses,  and  people  on  foot,  in  various  directions. 
On  the  Canadian  side,  although  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  an 
older  settlement,  and  apparently  better  lanel,ihere  are  only  two 
or   three  stores,    a    tavern  or  two,  a  natural  harbour  with- 

*  "  I  never  observed  land  more  in  want  of  manure  than  this  part  of  Canada 
(near  Montreal),  originally  of  indifferent  soil,  and  now  totally  worn  out  by  over- 
cropping, and  in  the  most  wretched  state  of  agriculture.  Yet  the  manure  in  a 
great  stable-yard,  belonging  to  the  hotel  where  we  lodged,  is  thrown  into  the 
river;  and  obviously  little  use  is  made  of  it  anywhere." — Stuart,  vol.  i.  p.  163. 


268  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

out  piers,    but    few  vessels,   and    two    temporary   landing- 
places."* 

To  what  is  owing  this  striking  difference  between  the  pros- 
perity of  two  sets  of  people,  cultivating  the  same  soil,  under 
the  same  climate,  with  the  same  degree  of  knowledge,  and 
divided  only  by  an  imaginary  line  ?  What  has  caused  the 
second  immigration  into  the  State  of  New- York,  of  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  poorer  emigrants  from  Britain  to  Upper  Canada  ? 
These  questions  will  be  answered  presently.  Meanwhile, 
enough  has  been  stated  to  show,  that  there  must  be  some  one 
way  better  than  all  the  others  of  treating  waste  land  for  the 
removal  of  people,  for  the  greatest  progress  of  colonization ; 
and  that  every  disposal  of  waste  land  in  any  way  but  the  best 
way  diminishes  by  so  much  the  power  of  a  colonizing  state  to 
proceed  in  the  best  way. 

What  is  the  best  way  in  which  to  dispose  of  waste  land 
with  a  view  to  colonization?  It  may  be  supposed,  that  in 
some  one  colony,  at  least,  for  some  short  time,  this  best  way 
of  proceeding  has  been  adopted,  if  only  by  accident.  On  the 
contrary,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  in  no  one  colony  of  modern 
times,  has  any  uniform  system  been  adopted  even  for  a  week: 
while  in  nearly  all  colonies  several  ways  of  proceeding,  the 
most  different  and  often  contradictory,  have  been  pursued 
either  within  a  short  period  or  at  the  same  time. 

The  nearest  approach  to  a  uniform  system  is  that  of  the 
United  States ;  the  sale  of  waste  land  by  public  auction,  at  a 
fixed  upset  price,  except  as  to  special  grants  by  congress. 
The  exceptions,  however,  are  so  important  as  to  defeat  the 
rule.  Among  these  exceptions  are  the  grant  of  300,000  acres 
to  General  Lafayette  ;  grants  to  the  amount  of  6,528,000  acres 
to  disbanded  soldiers,f  and  enormous  grants  for  the  support 
of  schools  and  colleges,  as  well  as  to  the  undertakers  of  public 
works,  such  as  roads  and  canals.  All  these  grants  so  far  re- 
semble the  crown  and  clergy  reserves  of  Upper  Canada,  that 
they  have  diminished,  according  to  their  extent,  the  field  of 
colonization,  and  injured  the  settlers  round  about  those  special 
grants.  For  neither  the  French  general,  nor  the  disbanded 
soldiers,  nor  the  BChools  and  colleges,  nor  the  undertakers  of 
canals,  attempted  to  cultivate  the  land  which  they  so  obtained 
for  nothing.  I>nt  Genera]  Lafayette  may  sell  his  land  for  less 
than  the  minimum  price  per  acre  required  by  Congress  from  all 
buyers  of  waste  land.     This  the  disbanded  soldiers  have  actu- 

it's  Guide  to  Canada,  1830. 
t  "'I'll''  great  Military  Bounty  tract,  reserved  by  Congress  for  distribution 
among  the  loldiei    "i  the  late  war,  commences  in  tin1  neighbourhood  of  Lower 
Alton.     It  comprehends  the  norlh-wesl  corner  of  the  Stele — about  170  miles 
long  and  80  miles  broad." — Stuart,  vol.  ii  ]>.  3  i>. 


THE    ART    OP    COLONIZATION.  269 

ally  done  :*  thus  counteracting  whatever  rmiy  have  been  the 
object  of  Congress  in  adopting  that  price.  In  several  ways, 
therefore,  the  special  grants  by  Congress  are,  not  merely  in  ex- 
ception, but  in  downright  contradiction,  to  the  general  way  of 
proceeding. 

As  soon  as  the  French  settlement  in  Lower  Canada,  which 
was  established  by  private  adventurers,  became  of  sufficient 
importance  to  deserve  the  attention  of  the  mother  country,  the 
court  of  Versailles  proceeded  to  grant  all  the  land  within  reach 
of  emigrants,  and  much  that  was  beyond  their  reach,  to  certain 
courtiers  or  creatures  of  courtiers.  Each  of  these  grantees 
obtained  an  immense  tract,  on  two  conditions  ;  first,  that  neither 
he  nor  his  descendants  should  ever  part  with  the  property; 
secondly,  that  he  should  grant  leases,  on  condition  of  receiving 
services  like  those  required  from  the  holders  of  land  under  the 
worst  feudal  system  of  Europe.  In  this  case,  court  favour, 
than  which  nothing  is  much  more  irregular,  was  the  means  of 
obtaining  property  in  land  ;  or,  if  we  are  to  consider  the  second 
condition  attached  to  these  seignetiries  as  leaving  them  open 
to  use  by  settlers,  then  the  means  of  obtaining  land  were  as 
irregular  and  whimsical  as  the  feudal  services  required  from 
tenants.  Upon  the  whole,  however,  it  will  seem  that  the 
establishment  of  these  absurd  lordships  in  the  wilderness  was, 
after  the  Dutch  plan  in  South  Africa,  the  best  way  to  ruin  the 
colony,  by  means  of  the  restrictions  thereby  imposed  on  the 
useful  appropriation  of  waste  land.  In  the  French  colony  of 
Louisiana,  on  the  contrary,  "lands,"  says  the  Abbe  Itaynal, 
"  were  granted  indiscriminately  to  every  person  who  applied 
for  them,  and  in  the  manner  in  which  he  desired  them."  Here, 
then,  instead  of  a  system,  land  was  disposed  of  according  to 
the  irregular  fancies  of  individuals.  This  might  be  called  a 
rule  for  the  disposal  of  waste  land,  if  it  were  not  clear  that 
every  gratification  of  an  individual  fancy,  as  to  the  extent  and 
situation  of  grants,  was  calculated  to  prevent  the  gratification 
of  other  individual  fancies.  The  historian  of  French  Louisiana, 
one  of  the  many  colonies  that  has  perished,  goes  on  to  say — 
"  Had  it  not  been  for  this  original  error,  Louisiana  would  not 
have  languished  for  so  long  a  time  ;  immense  deserts  would  not 
have  separated  the  colonists  from  each  other.  Being  brought 
near  to  a  common  centre,  ihey  would  have  assisted  each  other, 
and  would  have  enjoyed  all  the  advantages  of  a  well  regulated 

■  "  Most  of  those  lands  have  heen  sold  by  the  soldiers  to  other  individuals,  and 
are  now  owned  in  great  quantities  hy  gentlemen  in  the  eastern  States.  *  *  * 
They  have  heen  sold  by  the  soldiers  for  about  50  dollars  for  a  quarter  section, 
containing  100  acres."  Letter  from  Mr.  Duncan,  of  Vandalia. — Stuart,  vol.  ii. 
p.  396. 

This  is  at  the  rate  of  31}  cents  per  acre  ;  while  the  upset  price  of  land  sold 
by  Congress  is  125  cents  per  acre. 


270  THE    ART    OF    COLOXIZATIO*. 

society.  Instead  of  a  few  hordes  of  savages,  we  should  have 
seen  a  rising  colony,  which  might  in  time  have  become  a 
powerful  nation,  and  procured  infinite  advantages  to  France." 

In  Upper  Canada,  hind  has  been  granted,  at  the  same  time, 
to  favourites  of  the  colonial  court,  tor  nothing  ;  to  others,  for 
bribes  paid  to  colonial  officers  :*  to  some,  on  condition  of  pay- 
ing a  quit-rent  to  the  government,  which  quit-rent  was  exacted 
in  some  cases  and  not  in  others  ;  to  some,  for  nothing,  because 
they  were  American  royalists  ;  to  others,  for  so  much  money 
per  acre,  paid  openly  to  the  government,  and  disposed  of  in 
various  jobs  of  which  the  note  below  gives  an  example  ;  to  the 
political  clergy  for  nothing,  as  we  have  seen  before  ;  and  even 
to  the  grantor,  to  the  crown  itself,  in  the  preposterous  shape  of 
crown  reserves.  In  this  colony  too,  while  all  these  ways  of 
granting  land  were  pursued  at  once,  during  the  very  period  of 
this  irregularity  in  granting  land,  grants  were  refused  with  equal 
irregularity  ;  because  the  applicant  had  offended  the  governor  ; 
because  he  asked  for  land  in  a  favourable  situation  reserved 
by  the  governor,  in  his  excellency's  mind,  I  mean,  for  some 
relative  or  dependent ;  because  he  wanted  land,  in  a  situation 
which  his  excellency,  in  his  wisdom,  thought  not  fit  for  settle- 
ment, and,  in  his  power,  resolved  should  continue  desert; 
because  this  spot  was  intended  for  the  site  of  a  town,  and  that 
for  some  military  purpose  ;  because  this  district  had  not  been 
surveyed,  or  this  was,  in  the  governor's  opinion,  too  thickly 
peopled  ;  or  that  required  more  people,  and  was,  on  that  day, 
the  only  spot  in  which  a  grant  would  be  made.  Such  are  not 
all,  but  only  a  few,  of  the  very  different  and  often  contradic- 
tory grounds  on  which,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  waste  land 
was  granted  and  withheld  in  this  colony  down  to  last  year. 

In  New  South  Wales  and  Van  Dieman's  Land,  colonies  not 
fifty  years  old,  land  has  been  granted  and  refused  on  all  sorts 

*  "  Will  you  inform  the  committee  of  the  sums  that  have  been  paid  by  the 
Canada  Company,  and  their  appropriation  !  *  Thirdly, 
2,566/.,  as  an  minimi  compensation,  for  the  period  of  Seven  \e:irs,  to  those  olli- 
cers  of  the  land-granting  department  in  I  pper  Canada,  who,  by  the  adoption 
of  the  new  regulation!  for  granting  lands,  are  deprived  "I  their  emolumentt.''* 
See  >  ridence  ol  the  Righl  Honourable  K.  Wilmot  Horton,  M.  P.  and  under- 
secretary of  state  for  the  colonies,  delivered  before  a  select  < imiuee  of  the 

House  ol  Commons,  on  the  civil  government  of  Canada,  1828.  The  report  of 
this  committee,  which  tills  a  thick  folio  volume,  is  crowded  with  examples  of 
jobbing  in  the  disposal  of  h  aste  land. 

"The  surveyor!  receive  their  compensation  in  land,  and  generally  secure  the 
dons.     \\  ben  I  was  in  Canada,  thej  would  sell  their  best  lots 

1". »r  one  dollar  per  acre  ;  while  I3i.  10*.,  the  lee  on  one  hundred  acres,  amount 
to  more  than  halt   a  dollar  per  acre.      I  never  mi  t  with  any  one  person,  among 

all  those  with  whom  I  conversed  on  the  subject,  who  did  no)  agree,  that,  if  a 
settler  had  but  a  very  little  money,  it  would  be  much  more  to  Ins  advantage  to 
buy  land  than  to  receive  it  from  the  government." — Letters  from  North  America, 
try  Afinm  H'ld^'on.      Vol.  ii.  p.  47. 


THE    AHT    OF    COLONIZATION.  271 

of  different  and  contradictory  grounds  ;  granted  by  favour,  for 
money,  for  public  services,  real  or  pretended,  to  English  lords 
and  members  of  parliament,  because  they  were  lords  and 
members  of  parliament ;  to  the  political  clergy,  to  schools,  and 
other  institutions  ;  granted  unconditionally  and  with  conditions  ; 
conditions  fulfilled  in  some  cases,  but  much  oftener  neglected  ; 
granted  on  account  of  the  applicant's  wealth,  that  is,  because 
he  was  able  to  invest  capital  on  the  land,  and  on  account  of 
his  poverty,  that  is,  on  the  score  of  charity  :  refused  according 
to  every  whim  of  every  successive  governor,  always  a  sailor 
or  a  soldier,  as  fit  to  manage  a  great  work  of  public  economy 
as  Adam  Smith  was  fit  to  navigate  a  ship  or  command  a  regi- 
ment. To  save  the  reader's  lime,  in  order  that  he  may  be 
able  to  imagine  the  excessive  irregularity  with  which  land  has 
been  granied  and  withheld  in  these  colonies,  I  shall  state  two 
facts,  out  of  hundreds,  which  tend  to  establish  that  here,  as  to 
the  disposal  of  new  land,  the  government  has  been  regular  in 
nothing  but  irregularity. 

1.  About  four  years  ago,  General  Darling  being  governor 
of  New  South  Wales,  the  colonial  office  in  London  used  to 
distribute  a  "  regulation,"  by  which  it  was  declared  that  any 
person  in  England  wishing  to  settle  in  New  South  Wales, 
would  obtain,  on  reaching  the  colony,  a  grant  of  land  exten- 
sive in  proportion  to  the  capital  that  he  was  prepared  to  invest 
on  it.  On  the  faith  of  this  regulation,  people  used  to  emigrate 
with  their  capital.  One  of  them,  with  the  regulation  in  his 
hand,  waits  upon  the  governor,  and  begs  for  a  grant  of  land 
still  at  the  disposal  of  government,  in  the  county  of  Cumber- 
land ;  as  near,  that  is,  to  the  town  of  Sydney  as  the  previous 
disposal  of  waste  land  would  allow.  Has  he  brought  a  letter 
of  recommendation  to  the  governor,  or  the  treasurer,  or  the 
secretary,  or  some  member  of  council  ?  If  yes,  if  the  letter 
come  from  a  powerful  man  or  woman  in  England,  the  grant  is 
made  out.  If  no,  then  says  the  governor  or  his  deputy — we 
wish  to  promote  settlements  in  Wellington  Valley,  two  hundred 
miles  from  Sydney,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Blue  Mountains. 
Take  a  grant  there,  or  do  without  a  grant :  in  other  words,  go 
back  to  England  or  bury  yourself  and  utterly  waste  your  capital 
in  a  distant  wilderness.  What,  it  may  be  asked,  could  be  the 
governor's  motive  for  this  cruel  injustice?  a  desire  to  spread 
his  dominion,  to  make  the  colony  appear  wide  upon  the  map, 
to  be  able  to  boast  of  new  settlements  far  apart  (this  is  the 
merit),  far  apart  from  each  other  !  Some  of  the  evils  of  this 
ignorant  desire  are  well  described  in  the  following  extract  from 
a  letter  addressed,  in  1832,  by  General  Clausel  to  Marshal 
Soult.  "  Tout  devenait  facile,  si  on  eut  suivi  le  systeme  de 
colonization  que  j'avais  etabli.     N'ayant  plus  a,  m'occuper  de 


2?'2  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

Constantine  et  d'Oran.j'aurais  porte  tous  mes  soins,  toute  mon 
attention,  sur  la  ville  d'Alger  et  les  environs.  Notre  etablisse- 
ment  sur  ce  point,  aisement  surveille,  cut  pris,  peu  a  peu,  et 
sans  exiger  presque  aucun  frais,  une  extension  suffisante.  A 
mesure  que  des  colons  Europeens  seraient  arrives,  on  aurait 
gagne  du  terrain  ;  et  lorsque  les  besoins  de  la  colonie  Feussent 
exige,  on  aurait  pris  une  partie  suffisante  du  territoire  d'Oran 
et  de  Constantine.  V ouloir  colonizer  en  mime  temps  la  regence 
toute  entiere,  vouloir  mettre  des  garnisons  sur  tous  les  points, 
avoir  la  pretention  de  tout  retenir  des  aujourd'hui  sous  notre 
domination  immediate,  tout  cela  me  parait  etre  un  projet  chi- 
merique :  en  faire  meme  L'essai  serait  de  compromettre  le 
succes  de  notre  etablissement  en  Afrique,  et  entrainer  l'etat, 
en  pure  perte,  dans  des  depenses  ruineuses." 

2.  During  the  rule  of  this  same  governor  of  New  South 
Wales,  it  was  proposed  to  make  a  road  between  Sydney  and 
Hunter's  River,  a  spot  where  some  settlements  had  been  formed, 
but  between  which  and  Sydney  there  was  no  communication 
except  by  the  sea  and  Hunt  r's  River.  This  road  was  to  pass 
through  a  district,  the  whole  of  which,  though  of  course  nearer 
to  Sydney  than  the  settlements  on  Hunter's  River,  remained 
in  the  hands  of  government.  Now,  before  the  government 
began  to  make  the  road,  two  or  three  applications  were  made 
for  grants  of  land  in  this  district  ;  small  grants  of  less  than  a 
hundred  acres  each  ;  modest  applications,  considering  that  the 
applicants  were  persons  of  high  official  rank  in  the  colony,  and 
near  connexions  of  the  governor  to  boot.  The  applications 
were  successful,  of  course.  Somehow  or  other,  the  new  road 
took  the  direction  of  these  grants  ;  over  or  by  the  side  of  which, 
therefore,  all  travellers  by  land,  between  Sydney  and  Hunter's 
River,  necessarily  passed.  On  each  of  these  grants  a  house 
was  built ;  a  house,  which,  being  licensed  (for  they  have  a 
licensing  system  in  New  South  Wales)  became  an  inn.  These 
inns,  then,  were  the  only  places  on  the  line  of  road  at  which  tra- 
vellers could  stop  for  rest  and  Refreshment.  (M  course,  such  a 
monopoly  caused  the  prices  of  real  and  refreshment  to  be  very 
high;  gave  very  high  profits  to  the  inn-keepers.  Other  per- 
son-, desirous  to  share  m  these  high  profits,  now  applied  for 
grants  of  land  on  the  line  of  road.  No»  said  the  governor,  or 
one  of  these  inn-keepers,  von  may  have  land  on  Hunter's  River 
or  in  Wellington  Valley  :  but  along  this  line  of  road  no  more 
land  will  be  granted  at  present.  Thus  the  powerof  the  gov- 
ernor to  grant  or  withhold  waste  land  was  used  in  this  case 
with  the  edict,  and  one  can  hardly  doubt  for  the  purpose,  of 
turning  two  or  three  of  Ins  excellency's  favourites  iiit < >  highway* 
mi  ii ;  of  enabling  them  to  rob  all  travellers  between  Sydm  y 
and  Hunter's  River  ;  to  rob  them  of  bomewhat  less  than  the 


THE    ART    OP    COLONIZATION.  273 

difference  between  the  cost  of  going  round  by  sea  and  the  cost 
of  travelling  on  a  straight  road  open  to  the  competition  of  inn- 
keepers. It  would  not  be  easy  to  find,  even  in  Ireland,  a  match 
for  this  job  ;  but  many  to  match  it  have  taken  place  in  New 
South  Wales.  My  authority  for  this  statement  is  Mr.  Potter 
Macqueen,  late  member  of  parliament  for  Bedfordshire  ;  him- 
self the  proprietor  of  a  large  tract  of  land  in  New  South  Wales, 
and,  as  such,  an  instance  of  the  shameful  irregularity  with  which 
new  land  has  been  disposed  of  in  that  colony. 

For  granting  land  at  the  Swan  River  settlement,  regulations 
made  by  Sir  George  Murray  and  Mr.  Horace  Tvviss,  the  chief 
and  under-secretaries  of  state  for  the  colonies,  were  published 
in  England  ;  but  not  till  after  Sir  George  Murray  had  granted 
500,000  acres  to  the  cousin  of  his  colleague,  Sir  Robert  Peel. 
This  grant  to  Mr.  Peel  was  obtained  by  means  of  a  letter, 
which  has  been  published,  from  Sir  Robert  to  Sir  George. 
Some  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  having  said  that  this 
transaction  was  a  job,  Sir  Robert  Peel  defended  it ;  and  Mr. 
(now  Lord)  Brougham,  the  author  of  a  book  on  colonial  policy, 
rising  after  the  right  honourable  baronet,  declared,  that  for  the 
first  time  the  right  honourable  baronet  had  made  an  "  unneces- 
sary speech  ;"  so  complete,  or  so  unnecessary  was  the  vindi- 
cation of  his  conduct.  The  grant,  however,  to  Sir  Robert's 
cousin,  of  more  land  than  had  been  granted  in  New  South 
Wales  during  thirty-four  years,  and  the  outcry  that  was  raised 
against  it,  compelled  the  government  to  give  land  to  other 
people  in  the  same  way  ;  that  is,  with  the  most  reckless  pro- 
fusion. Thus  the  only  advantage  obtained  by  Mr.  Peel  over 
other  settlers  was  his  being  allowed  to  mark  out  his  grant  upon 
the  map  in  England,  and  to  choose  what  he  considered  the  very 
best  situation.  But  this,  though  it  has  proved  of  no  advantage 
to  Mr.  Peel,  was  very  injurious  to  all  the  other  settlers  ;  because, 
as  he  had  selected  his  grant  round  about  the  port  or  landing- 
place,  so  great  an  extent  of  land  in  the  very  best  situation 
became  private  property  as  to  render  all  the  other  situations 
very  bad  in  comparison.  If  Mr.  Peel  had  been  compelled  to 
make  roads  through  his  grant,  or  had  obtained  only  such  an 
extent  of  land  as  might  easily  have  had  roads  made  through  it 
by  the  government,  the  case  would  have  been  different.  As  it 
was,  his  property  became  as  a  desert  between  the  port  or 
landing-place  and  the  land  beyond  that  property.  Beyond 
that  desert,  however,  it  was  declared,  that  all  the  world  should 
be  entitled  to  unlimited  grants,  on  either  one  of  two  conditions, 
as  the  grantee  should  prefer  ;  either  an  outlay  of  1.9.  6d.  per  acre 
in  conveying  labourers  to  the  settlement,  or  the  investment  of 
capital  on  the  land  at  the  rate  of  \s.  6d.  per  acre.  The  second 
of  these  conditions  was  flatly  at  variance  with  the  first.     The 

35 


214  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

object  of  the  first  condition  was  to  promote  the  emigration  of 
labourers  in  proportion  to  the  land  granted  ;  but  as  those  who 
had  obtained  land  on  the  second  condition  wanted  labourers, 
and,  not  having  spent  capital  on  the  immigration  of  labourers, 
were  able  to  offer  higher  wages  than  those  who  had,  the 
labourers  brought  out  by  one  set  of  capitalists  were  taken  from 
them  by  another  set ;  and  thus  it  came  to  happen  that  no  one 
had  a  motive  for  obtaining  land  on  the  first  condition.  One  of 
the  conditions  made  the  other  a  nullity  :  just  as,  elsewhere,  the 
profusion  of  one  governor  and  the  caution  of  his  successor,  or 
the  profusion  of  one  and  the  caution  of  his  predecessor,  or  the 
profusion  and  caution  of  the  same  governor  either  at  different 
times,  or  with  respect  to  different  parts  of  the  same  colony  at 
the  same  time,  have  had  opposite  tendencies ;  have  tended  to 
increase,  and,  as  the  people  were  increasing,  to  decrease  the 
proportion  between  the  inhabitants  of  a  colony  and  the  land 
open  to  cultivation. 

All  these  cases  pretty  well  establish,  that  in  no  modern  colony 
has  the  best  way,  or  indeed  any  one  way,  of  treating  waste 
land  been  pursued  systematically :  to  these  cases  it  would  be 
easy  to  add  several  hundreds  of  different  and  often  contra- 
dictory modes,  in  which  the  governments  of  modern  Europe 
have  disposed  of  the  chief  element  of  colonization. 

What  is  the  best  mode  in  which  to  dispose  of  waste  land 
with  a  view  to  colonization  ?  In  order  to  ascertain  this,  we 
must  first  determine  what  is,  or  ought  to  be,  the  immediate 
object  of  a  colonizing  government  in  exerting  its  power  over 
waste  land.  The  accomplishment  of  that  immediate  object 
would  be  a  way  to  ultimate  ends. 

Why  should  any  government  exert  power  over  waste  land 
either  by  giving  or  withholding?  Why  not  let  individuals 
judge  for  themselves  as  to  the  situation  and  extent  of  new  hind 
that  each  individual  should  like  to  call  his  own  ?  This  course 
has  been  recommended  by  some  English  economists  ;*  on  the 
ground  that  individuals  are  the  best  judges  of  what  is  for  their 
own  interest,  and  that  all  unnecessary  interference  of  government 
with  the  affairs  of  individuals  is  sure  to  do  more  harm  than 
good.  But  in  this  case,  the  government  must  necessarily  inter- 
fere to  some  extent ;  that  is,  it  must  establish  or  confirm  a  title 
to  the  land  of  which  individuals  had  taken  possession.  Or, 
perhaps,  those  English  economists,  who  deprecate  the  inter- 
ference of  government  in  the  disposal  of  waste  land,  would 
have  each  settler  on  new  land  to  be  a  "  squatter ;"  a  settler 
wit  hunt  any  title,  liable  to  be  ousted  by  any  other  man  who 
was  stronger,  and  who,  being  the  best  judge  of  his  own  interest, 

*  Especially  by  Mr  Mill  ;  in  a  letter  to  Mr  VVilmot  Horton,  not  printed,  but 
industriously  nrculated  by  the  latter. 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  275 

should  think  it  worth  while  to  oust  the  first  occupier.  Passing 
by  so  absurd  a  conclusion  from  the  principle  of  non-interfer- 
ence, let  us  now  suppose  the  case,  in  which  a  colonizing  govern- 
ment should  confine  its  interference  to  securing  a  property  in 
that  land  of  which  individuals  had  taken  possession.  In  this 
case,  all  the  land  to  which  it  was  possible  that  government 
should  afterward  give  a  title  would  immediately  be  taken 
possession  of  by  a  few  individuals;  good  judges  of  their  own 
interest,  consulting  their  own  advantage.  But  what,  in  this 
case,  would  become  of  all  the  other  individuals  who,  in  pursuit 
of  their  own  advantage,  might  be  desirous  to  obtain  some  waste 
land  ?  This  question  settles  the  point.  For  the  good  of  all, 
the  interference  of  government  is  not  less  necessary  to  prevent 
a  few  individuals  from  seizing  all  the  waste  land  of  a  colony 
than  it  is  necessary  to  prevent  robberies.  As  it  is  for  the  good 
of  all  that  no  one  should  be  allowed  to  take  any  other  one's 
property,  so  it  is  for  the  good  of  all  that  no  individual  should 
be  allowed  to  injure  other  individuals  by  taking  more  than  the 
right  quantity  of  waste  land.  In  the  former  case,  government 
enforces  a  compact  among  all  the  members  of  a  society ;  an 
agreement  that  any  one  who  takes  the  property  of  another 
shall  be  punished  :  so,  in  the  latter  case,  the  interference  of 
government  with  respect  to  waste  land  is  nothing  but  the  en- 
forcement of  a  compact  among  all  who  are  interested  in  the 
disposal  of  waste  land ;  an  agreement  that  none  shall  be  allowed 
to  injure  the  others,  that  the  greatest  good  of  all  shall  be  con- 
sulted. This  point  settled,  what,  for  the  greatest  good  of  all, 
is  the  immediate  object  of  a  colonizing  government  in  exerting 
its  power  over  waste  land  '?  Its  ultimate  object  being  the 
greatest  progress  of  colonization,  its  immediate  object  is,  that 
there  should  exist  in  the  colony  those  circumstances  which  are 
best  calculated  to  attract  capital  and  labour,  but  especially 
labour,  from  an  old  country.  The  advantage  of  the  immigrants, 
though  one  of  the  ends,  is  also  an  essential  means  of  coloniza- 
tion. For  the  greatest  advantage  of  immigrants  to  a  colony, 
it  is  necessary  that  the  colonial  profits  of  capital,  and  wages  of 
labour,  should  be  as  high  as  possible.  High  profits,  then,  and 
especially  high  wages,  are  the  immediate  object  of  a  colonizing 
government  in  exerting  its  power  over  waste  land. 

In  order  to  create  and  maintain  a  very  high  rate  of  wages 
in  the  colony,  it  is  necessary,  first,  that  the  colonists  should 
have  an  ample  field  of  production  ;  ample,  that  is,  in  propor- 
tion to  capital  and  labour  ;  such  an  extent  of  land  as  to  render 
unnecessary  the  cultivation  of  inferior  soils,  and  as  to  permit  a 
large  proportion  of  the  people  to  be  engaged  in  agriculture  ;  a 
field,  large  from  the  beginning,  and  continually  enlarged  with 
the  increase  of  capital  and  people.     But,  in  the  second  place, 


276  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

it  is  quite  as  necessary  that  the  field  of  production  should  never 
be  too  large  ;  should  never  be  so  large  as  to  encourage  hurtful 
dispersion  ;  as  to  promote  that  cutting  up  of  capital  and  labour 
into  small  fractions,  which,  in  the  greater  number  of  modern 
colonies,  has  led  to  poverty  and  barbarism,  or  speedy  ruin. 
For  securing  the  first  condition  of  high  profits  and  wages,  the 
power  of  the  government  over  waste  land  must  be  exerted 
actively,  in  bestowing  upon  individuals  titles  to  the  possession 
of  land  :  for  the  second  object,  that  power  must  be  exerted 
negatively,  in  refusing  titles  to  waste  land.  The  action  of  the 
two  exertions  of  power  together  may  be  compared  to  that  of 
an  elastic  belt,  which,  though  always  tight,  will  always  yield  to 
pressure  from  within. 

But  as  the  belt  which  should  press  more  in  one  place  than 
in  another,  or  should  be  more  tight  at  one  time  than  at  another, 
would  be  defective,  so  would  any  system  for  granting  and 
refusing  waste  land  be  defective  which  should  not  be  both 
uniform  and  lasting. 

It  is  easy  to  grant  land,  and  easy  to  refuse  applications  for 
grants:  the  difficulty  is  to  draw  a  line  between  the  active  and 
negative  exertions  of  power,  so  as  to  render  the  proportion 
which  land  bears  to  people  neither  too  small  nor  too  great  for 
the  highest  profits  and  wages. 

With  a  view,  not  deliberate,  certainly,  but  rather  instinctive, 
to  maintaining  a  due  proportion  between  people  and  land, 
three  methods  of  proceeding  have  been  adopted  by  several 
colonial  governments :  first,  that  of  attaching  conditions  to 
grants  of  land  ;  secondly,  that  of  imposing  a  tax  on  the  land 
granted,  and  in  case  the  tax  was  not  paid,  seizing  and  selling 
the  land  for  arrears  of  taxes;  thirdly,  that  of  requiring  payment 
in  money  for  waste  land  before  the  grant  was  made  out. 

In  the  first  mode  of  proceeding,  the  grantee  obtained  his 
land  on  such  conditions,  for  example,  as  that  of  cultivating  it, 
or  that  oi"  paying  a  quit-renl ;  and  in  either  case  the  granl  was 
liable  to  be  recalled  provided  the  condition  was  not  observed. 
But  grants  of  land  have  scarcely  ever  been  recalled  because  the 
land  had  not  been  cultivated, or  the  quit-rent  had  not  boon  paid. 

Why  smli  conditions  have  nearly  always  been  a  dead  letter  is 

plain  enough  :  because  the  term  M  cultivation"  is  so  general  and 
vague  that  no  tribunal  could  decide  whether  or  not  that  condi- 
tion had  been  fulfilled  ;  While  all  the  holders  of  land  obtained 
on  that  condition,  including  frequently  the  members  of  the  only 
tribunal  to  which  the  question  could  be  submitted,  have  made 
common  cause  i<>  prevent  the  question  from  being  raised:* 

*  The  granti  at  the  Swan  River  wen  declared  liable  to  be  forfeited  unless 
Uicy  should.  Ihi  " ouliioatod  to  the  Batisfaction  of  the  governor;"  a  gentleman 


THE    ART    OP    COLONIZATION.  277 

because,  as  to  quit-rents,  all  who  obtained  land  on  condition  of 
paying  them,  including  the  favorites  of  governments,  and  fre- 
quently the  officers  of  government  themselves,  have  made 
common  cause  to  prevent  the  recall  of  grants  for  non-  payment 
of  quit-rent.  Thus,  while  such  conditions  were  sure  to  be 
neglected,  the  certainty  of  being  able  to  disregard  them  led  so 
many  people  to  acquire  more  property  than  they  could  possibly 
use,  that  the  grantees  would  not  have  been  able,  supposing  them 
willing,  to  have  observed  the  conditions;  would  not  have  been 
able  to  cultivate  so  much  more  land  than  there  were  labourers 
to  employ,  or  to  have  paid  quit-rent  for  so  much  land  which 
yielded  nothing.  Judging  from  these  cases,  and  from  very- 
many  more  in  which  conditions  have  been  attached  to  grants 
without  an  attempt  to  enforce  them,  it  seems  impossible  to 
devise  any  after-condition,  in  the  nature  of  a  promise,  which 
would  hinder  people  from  taking  more  land  than  they  ought  to 
take  ;  which  would  render  the  belt  always  tight,  while  always 
sufficiently  elastic. 

Secondly.  Though  by  imposing  a  tax  on  granted  land  which 
remains  in  a  desert  state,  and  selling  the  land  for  arrears  of 
taxes,  some  check  would  be  put  to  the  misappropriation  of 
new  land,  still  this  plan  is  open  to  the  same  objections  as  the 
one  just  examined  :  the  execution  of  the  plan  would  be  difficult 
or  next  to  impossible  :  it  is  but  another  mode  of  attaching  to 
grants  the  after-condition  of  cultivation.  In  some  of  the  United 
States,  truly,  this  plan  has  been  successfully  pursued  with 
respect  to  deserts  of  private  property,  which  had  become  pri- 
vate property  before  the  plan  of  taxing  and  seizing  was  adopted. 
But  why  was  this  plan  devised  ?  Not  to  prevent,  but  to  cure, 
the  evils  of  deserts  interposed  among  the  settlers.  Act  upon 
this  plan  with  respect  to  all  desert  land  now  private  property, 

deserving,  on  many  accounts,  very  great  respect ;  but,  nevertheless,  a  naval 
captain,  whose  knowledge  of  "  cultivation"  must  necessarily  be  small,  and  who, 
besides,  owns  in  the  colony  a  hundred,  perhaps  a  thousand  times  as  much  land 
as  it  is  possible  that  he  should  cultivate.  Is  it  to  be  expected  that  he  will 
declare  his  own  land  to  be  forfeited  for  want  of  cultivation  1 

Mr.  Ellice,  now  war-minister  of  England,  was  asked  by  the  committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons  on  the  civil  government  of  Canada,  whether  escheats  of  land 
had  taken  place  under  the  6th  of  George  IV.,  which  empowered  the  government 
to  seize  and  sell  lauds,  as  to  which  certain  conditions  had  not  been  performed. 
He  answered,  '•  None,  that  I  am  aware  of."  But  then,  he  had  just  before 
informed  the  committee,  that  "grants  had  been  most  inconsiderately  and 
wantonly  made,  in  large  masses,  to  people  connected  with  government,  to  the 
great  detriment  of  the  country  and  the  great  nuisance  of  the  inhabitants  around  ;" 
that  land  had  been  so  granted  "  in  large  masses,  since  it  was  the  fashion  for 
every  councillor  or  officer  connected  with  I  lie  government,  to  get  a  grant  of  from 
5000  to  20,000  acres  ;"  that  many  of  "  those  grantees  were  absentees  ;  and 
some  governors  of  the  colony."  The  evidence  of  Mr.  Ellice  before  this  com- 
mittee*, and  especially  that  part  of  it  which  relates  to  the  disposal  of  waste  land, 
is  full  of  instruction  for  colonizing  governments. 


278  THE    ART    OF    C0L0MZAT10N. 

still  what  is  to  be  done  with  the  land  so  seized,  or  recovered, 
by  the  government?  Is  it  to  be  granted  again  in  such  a  way 
as  to  cull  for  a  second  seizure,  and  a  third  grant  of  the  same 
lots  of  land  1  This  plan  may  be  good  for  the  cure  of  an  evil, 
but  is  plainly  quite  insufficient  to  prevent  the  evil.  It  has 
been  successful,  as  a  cure  in  some  of  the  United  States,  only 
because,  since  the  evil  arose  which  it  was  intended  to  cure, 
another  plan  had  been  adopted  to  prevent  the  evil  as  to  all 
new  grants. 

But,  thirdly,  it  is  obvious  that  a  government  may  put  any 
degree  of  restraint  on  the  acquisition  of  waste  land,  by  means 
of  conditions  to  be  performed  before  the  grant  is  bestowed ; 
by  making  the  grant  itself  conditional  on  some  previous  act  by 
the  grantee.  Of  this  nature  was  a  part  of  the  plan  for  granting 
land  at  the  Swan  River;  that  part  by  which  he,  who  had  paid 
for  the  conveyance  of  labourers  to  the  colony,  was  entitled  to 
waste  land  in  proportion  to  his  outlay.  Not  less  strictly  of  this 
nature,  though  somewhat  more  obviously,  is  the  plan  now  pur- 
sued by  the  United  States  ;  that  of  requiring  payment  in 
money  for  new  grants.  This  appears  to  be  the  most  sure  and 
most  simple  way  to  prevent  the  improper  acquisition  of  waste 
land.  For,  though  many  expedients  might  be  suggested  for 
rendering  the  grant  conditional  (in  the  performance  of  some  act 
by  the  grantee,  such  as  withholding  the  title  until  the  land  was 
cultivated,  still  in  all  of  these  ways  of  proceeding  much  room 
would  be  left  for  favour,  for  disputes,  and  evasions,  as  well  as 
for  miscalculation  on  the  part  of  the  grantee  ;  not  to  mention 
that,  if  time  were  required  for  the  performance  of  the  condi- 
tion of  title,  all  new  land  must  pass  through  a  state  of  uncer- 
tainty as  to  its  ownership  ;  being  used  in  some  way  by  indi- 
viduals with  a  view  to  gaining  a  title,  and  yet  not  the  property 
of  individuals,  but  liable  to  be  resumed  by  the  government  in 
case  the  condition  of  a  title  were  not  thoroughly  performed. 
The  great  merit  of  the  system  pursued  by  the  United  States 
consists  in  its  simplicity,  and  the  certainty  of  its  operation. 

Still  the  object  of  the  government,  or  rather  of  the  com- 
munity, would  be  missed,  if  the  payment  required  for  waste 
land  were  not  so  high  as  to  deter  individuals  from  taking  more 
land  than,  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  society,  they  ought  to 
take.  If  the  price  were  so  low  that  great  tracts  should  be 
attainable  by  paying  a  trifle  of  money,  individuals,  speculating 
vaguely  on  BOme  distant  benefit  to  arise  from  the  increase  of 
population,  would  acquire  great  tracts  without  being  willing, 
or  even  able,  to  use  them;  would  interpose  great  deserts 
among  the  Bettlers  ;  would  produce  an  extreme  degree  of  dis- 
persion, reducing  the  power  of  capital  and  labour  to  the  mini- 
mum, and  rendering  out  of  the  case  both  high  profits  and  high 


•ME    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  279 

wages.  Thus,  at  the  Swan  River,  though  some  grantees  paid 
money  for  their  land,  when  they  paid  for  the  passage  of  emi- 
grant labourers,  still  as  the  rate  of  payment  was  two  hundred 
acres  for  each  labourer,  or  Is.  Qd.  per  acre,  they  were  not  pre- 
vented from  taking  a  great  deal  more  land  than  they  could 
use.  In  this  case,  the  object  of  requiring  money  for  land 
would  not  have  been  attained,  even  if  the  system  had  been 
uniform  ;  if  none  had  been  allowed  to  acquire  land  save  by 
paying  money  for  it.  So,  in  the  United  States,  where,  for 
want  of  combinable  free-labour,  slavery  is,  one  may  say,  a 
necessity  ;  where  restrictions  on  foreign  trade  and  bounties  on 
home  manufactures  are,  not  in  opposition  to,  but  in  strict 
agreement  with,  the  first  principles  of  political  economy,  being, 
after  slavery,  the  chief  means  by  which  the  people  are  kept 
together,  and  induced  to  keep  each  other;  where,  notwith- 
standing these  expedients  for  promoting  combination  of  power, 
it  is  a  general  practice  to  exhaust  the  fertility  of  land,  trusting 
to  nature  for  nearly  all,  and  to  skill  for  hardly  any  thing ; 
where,  though  not  half  of  the  appropriated  land  be  cultivated, 
the  people  are  moving  on,  leaving  great  gaps  of  desert  be- 
hind them,  in  search  of  more  land  to  be  treated  in  the  same 
way  ;  there,  it  seems  evident,  the  price  put  upon  waste  land 
is  too  low  for  the  object  in  view.  And  this  conclusion  is  sup- 
ported by  particular  facts.  In  the  newest  settlements,  univer- 
sally, we  find  much  land,  which  is  become  private  property 
without  being  used  in  any  way  ;  not  even  cleared  of  the  forest ; 
taken  out  of  the  control  of  the  public,  and  yet  of  no  service  to 
any  individual ;  while  all  such  land  interposes  so  much  desert, 
or  so  many  deserts,  among  the  settlers,  increasing  the  distance 
by  which  they  are  separated,  interfering  with  the  construction 
of  roads,  and  operating  as  a  check  to  social  intercourse,  to  con- 
cert, to  exchange,  and  to  the  skilful  use  of  capital  and  labour. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  equally  plain  that  too  high  a  price 
might  be  required  for  waste  land.  If  it  be  for  the  good  of  all 
that  no  waste  land  should  be  granted  without  being  used  bene- 
ficially, it  is  equally  for  the  good  of  all  that  none  should  be 
withheld  from  individuals  able  and  willing  to  use  it  in  the  best 
way.  In  order  to  make  the  belt  elastic  as  well  as  tight,  in 
order  that  the  field  of  production  should  increase  gradually 
along  with  the  increase  of  capital  and  labour,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  require  for  new  land  a  price  not  more  than  suf- 
ficient to  prevent  the  improper  acquisition  of  land  ;  it  would  be 
necessaiy  to  make  the  price  so  low,  that  the  acquisition  and 
use  of  new  land  should  be  one  of  the  most  productive  employ- 
ments of  capital.  To  make  the  price  so  high,  that  the  acqui- 
sition and  use  of  new  land  should  not  be  one  of  the  most  pro- 
ductive employments  of  capital,  would  be  equal  to  a  decree 


280  THE    AltT    OF    COLON IZATIOW. 

that  no  more  land  should  be  used  in  any  way  ;  would  encom- 
pass the  settled  parts  of  the  colony,  not  with  an  elastic  belt, 
but  with  "  a  wall  of  brass ;"  would,  as  soon  as  capital  and 
labour  had  reached  an  excessive  proportion  to  land,  cause  low 
profits  and  low  wages;  would  prevent  the  immigration  of 
people ;  would  inevitably  defeat  the  objects  of  colonization : 
just  as  if  all  the  land  of  a  colony  were  granted  suddenly  to  a 
few  persons  neither  able  nor  willing  to  use  it,  but  willing  and 
able  to  prevent  others  from  using  it.  The  golden  mean,  a 
term  often  misapplied  to  some  degree  between  right  and  very 
wrong,  reallv  signifies  the  right  degree  and  nothing  else :  for 
this  case,  in  which  contrary  powers  are  to  be  exerted,  the  power 
of  granting  and  the  power  of  withholding,  the  golden  mean  is 
all  in  all.  Some  remarks  will  be  offered  presently  on  the  class 
of  facts  which  a  colonizing  people  would  take  as  their  guide 
for  ascertaining  the  best  price  of  new  land. 

Meanwhile,  we  have  to  dispose  of  two  questions  hardly  less 
important  than  the  question  of  price. 

First,  supposing  the  best  price  ascertained,  the  beneficial 
operation  of  it  might  be  checked,  nay,  altogether  prevented  in 
two  different  ways  ;  either  by  opposing  obstacles  to  the  acqui- 
sition of  land  at  that  price,  or  by  granting  land  on  other  terms. 
Thus,  in  New  South  Wales,  where  the  English  government  has 
been  persuaded  to  adopt  the  plan  of  selling  new  land  instead 
of  giving  it  away,*    the   governor's  caprice   still  determines 

*  Ever  since  May,  1829,  the  Colonial  Department  in  London  has  been  urged, 
in  various  ways,  to  adopt  the  American  plan  of  selling  waste  land,  instead  of 
jobbing  it  according  to  the  English  plan.  For  a  long  while,  this  suggestion 
was  either  fiercely  opposed  or  treated  with  ridicule,  by  persons  connected  with 
the  colonial  office,  and  especially  by  Mr.  Wilmot  Ilorton  and  Mr.  Hay,  one  of 
them  lately,  and  the  other  still  under-secrctary  of  state  for  the  colonies.  This 
suggestion  having  been  pressed  upon  the  government  by  a  society  established 
for  the  purpose  of  promoting  systematic  colonization,  Mr.  Wilmot  Horlon, 
jealous,  it  would  seem,  of  any  interference  with  a  subject,  part  of  which  had 
employed  his  thoughts  for  some  years,  became  a  member  of  the  society,  and 
then  broke,  it  up  by  getting  into  the  chair  at  a  public  meeting,  and  zealously 

condemning  the  objects  of  ill with  whom  be  had  professed  to  unite  himself. 

But,  at  the  same  time,  he  greatly  promoted  the  objects  of  the  society  by  attnek- 

ing  their  views,  and  thus  causing  those  \ iewa  to  be  examined.  \s  an  example 
of  the  assistance  which  be  thus  mve  to  the  dispersed  members  of  the  society,  I 

may  mention,  thai  he  persuaded  <  lol I  Toi  r.  us  to  join  him  in  conducting  a 

written  controversy  with  two  of  those  gentlemen,  ami  that,  in  the  end,  Colonel 

Torrens  became  one  of  the  warmest  advocates   of  the  measure  to  which  he  had 

ted  when  it  was  first  submitted  to  him.  Not  the  least  impression,  how* 
aver,  was  made  upon  the  government  while  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  adminis- 
tration lasted.  But,  soon  after  the  change  of  ministry  which  followed  the  three 
,!  i  o|  Pari  .  toon  after  Lord  rlowick  succeeded  Mr,  Horace  Twiss  as  under- 
secretary for  the  colonies,  the  measure  suggested  by  the  Colonization  Society 
was,  in  part,  adopted  by  the  government.  Defective  as  is  that  part  of  a  mea- 
sure; defective  because  incomplete;  still  it  cannot  fail  to  he  of  great  service  to 
the  colonies  Whatever  the  people  of  Canada  ami  of  the  English  settlements 
in  Australia  inuy  gain  by  the  check  which  has  tints  been  put  upon  olliciul  job- 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  281 

whereabouts  land  shall  be  surveyed  and  granted.  Though  any- 
one may  wait  upon  the  governor  with  the  new  regulations  in 

bing  in  the  disposal  of  waste  land,  they  owe,  not  very  remotely,  to  the  workmen 
of  Paris  or  M.  de  Polignac.  For  this  great  improvement  they  are  more  imme- 
diately obliged  to  Lord  Howick ;  to  the  leading  members  of  the  Colonization 
Society,  Mr.  John  Sterling,  Mr.  Hutt,  now  M.P.  for  Hull,  and  Mr.  Charles  Ten- 
nant,  then  M.P.  for  St.  Alban's ;  and  more  especially  to  Mr.  Robert  Gouger, 
the  secretary  of  the  society,  whose  efforts  to  procure  the  adoption  of  its  whole 
plan  have  been  unceasing  for  several  years.  The  successful  issue  of  Mr.  Gou- 
ger's  long  contest  with  the  judgments  of  ignorance,  the  insults  of  pride,  and  the 
delays  of  idleness,  should  be  a  lesson  of  encouragement  to  the  advocates  of 
useful  projects.  Here  follows  the  most  correct  list  that  I  have  been  able  to 
obtain  of  the  members  of  the  Colonization  Society. 

Woronzow  Greig,  Esq.  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  Bart. 

W.  S.  O'Brien,  Esq.  M.P.  Clayton  Brown,  Esq. 

ft.  H.  Innes,  Esq.  T.  Kavanagh,  Esq.  M.P. 

John  Hutt,  Esq.  James  Talbot,  Esq. 

I.  H.  Thomas,  Esq.  Charles  Tennant,  Esq. 

I.  W.  Buckle,  Esq.  Lucius  O'Brien,  Esq.  M.P. 

John  Sterling,  Esq.  John  Mill,  Esq. 

Edward  King,  Esq.  G.  S.  Tucker,  Esq. 

Robert  Scott,  Esq.  (of  New  South        Col.  Torrens. 

Wales).  J.  E.  Bicheno,  Esq. 

Howard  Elphinstone,  Esq.  R.  Trench,  Esq. 

Saml.  Humphreys,  Esq.  William  Hutt,  Esq. 

Charles  Buller,  Esq.  Rev.  G.  V.  Sampson. 

C.  Holte  Bracebridge,  Esq.  Lawrence  Marshall,  Esq. 

John  Young,  Esq.  Right  Hon.  R.  W.  Horton. 

E.  Barnard,  Esq.  John  Gore,  Esq. 

Sir  J.  C.  Hobhouse,  Ban.  M.P.  Arthur  Gregory,  Esq. 

John  Gibson,  Esq.  Richard  Heathfield,  Esq. 

Sir  Philip  Sidney.  Erskine  Humphreys,  Esq. 

Hyde  Villiers,  Esq.  T.  Potter  Macqueen,  Esq.  M.P. 

John  Buckle,  Esq.  Colonel  Talbot,  M.P. 

Hon.  Secretary,  Robert  Gouger,  Esq. 

The  views  of  the  society  were  first  published  in  a  supplement  to  the  Spec- 
tator newspaper,  and  afterward  reprinted  in  a  pamphlet,  entitled  A  Statement 
of  the  Principles  and  Objects  of  a  proposed  National  Society  for  the  Cure  and 
Prevention  of  Pauperism  by  means  of  Systematic  Colonization.  Ridgway, 
1830.     Those  views  have  been  further  explained  in  the  following  publications. 

Sketch  of  a  Proposal  for  colonizing  Australasia ;  printed  and  circulated,  but 
not  sold,  in  1829. 

A  Letter  to  the  Right  Honourable  Sir  George  Murray  on  Systematic  Colo- 
nization, by  Charles  Tennant,  Esq.  M.P.  Ridgway,  1830.  This  pamphlet 
contains  a  Report  of  the  Society,  and  a  Controversy  between  Mr.  Hutt  and  Mr. 
Sterling  on  one  side,  and  Mr.  Wilmot  Horton  and  Col.  Torrens  on  the  other. 

Letters  forming  Part  of  a  Correspondence  with  Nassau  William  Senior,  Esq., 
concerning  Systematic  Colonization,  &c,  by  Charles  Tennant,  Esq.  M.P. 
Ridgway,  1831. 

A  Letter  from  Sydney,  the  principal  town  of  Australasia,  edited  by  Robert 
Gouger.  Joseph  Cross,  Holborn,  1829.  Reprinted  from  the  Morning  Chron- 
icle newspaper. 

Eleven  Letters  in  the  Spectator  newspaper,  signed  P.  1830  and  1831. 

A  Lecture  on  Colonization,  delivered  before  the  Literary  Association,  at  the 
London  Tavern,  on  December  5,  1831  :  by  R.  Davies  Hanson,  Esq.  Ridgway 
and  Sons.     1S32. 

Proposal  to  His  Majesty's  Government  for  founding  a  Colony  on  the  South 
Coast  of  Australia.     Printed  and  circulated,  but  not  sold,  in  1831. 

36 


•282 


THE    ART   OF    COLONIZATION. 


his  hand,  saying, — I  want  so  many  acres  in  such  a  spot :  take 
my  money, — the  governor  may  reply,  No ;  that  spot  is  re- 
served :  you  must  choose  elsewhere.  Nay,  until  the  governor 
have  declared  a  spot  open  for  settlement,  until  it  please  him  to 
offer  land  lor  sale,  no  one  can  now  obtain  new  land  anywhere 
on  any  terms.  Here,  then,  is  the  restriction  of  price,  without 
liberty  subject  to  that  restriction.  If  the  price  fixed  on  land 
had  been  the  right  one,  sufficient,  that  is.  for  the  purpose  of 
restraint,  all  further  restraint  could  not  but  have  been  hurtful ; 
could  not  but  have  interfered  with  the  due  operation  of  the 
proper  price.  From  this  example  we  may  gather,  what  indeed 
no  fact  was  required  to  establish,  so  obvious  is  the  conclusion  ; 
that,  along  with  the  best  price  for  waste  land,  there  ought  to  be 
the  most  perfect  liberty  of  appropriation  at  that  price.  This  is 
secured  in  the  United  States  by  very  simple  regulations. 

But  this  secured,  what  if  there  should  be  exceptions  to  the 
system  ?  what  if  some  portions  of  new  land  should  be  granted 
on  some  other  condition  than  purchase,  or  for  less  money  than 
the  general  price,  or  for  nothing  ?  The  result  is  plain ;  the 
object  sought  by  the  best  price  would  be  defeated  in  propor- 
tion to  the  extent  of  exceptional  grants.  If  land  were  given, 
as  in  the  United  States,  to  schools  and  colleges,  deserts  would 
still  be  interposed  among  the  settlers  ;  and  either  this  would 
happen,  or  waste  land  would  be  sold  for  less  than  the  price 
generally  required  by  government,  if  new  land  were  given  for 
nothing  by  way  of  reward  for  public  services.  Every  special 
grant,  besides,  made  for  nothing,  or  for  less  than  the  general 
price,  would  be  an  act  of  gross  injustice  towards  those  who 
had  paid  the  general  price :  unless,  indeed,  the  government 
should  proclaim,  before  taking  money  from  any  one,  that  it 
intended  to  grant  land  for  nothing  in  special  cases.  Such  a 
declaration,  however,  by  the  government,  though  it  would  be  a 
fair  warning  to  individuals,  and  would  thus  prevent  any  injus- 
tice, could  not  but  greatly  interfere  with  the  sale  of  land  at  the 
best  price;  for  it  would  amount  to  saying,  Beware,  land  buy- 
ers, of  paying  to  us,  the  government,  more  than  will  suffice  to 
buy  land  from  individuals  on  whom  we  mean  to  bestow  grants 
for  nothing.  Whereat,  if  the  plan  of  selling  at  a  fixed  price 
were  the  only  one,  if  the  system  were  uniform,  the  due  Opera- 
Plan  of  a  Company  to  be  established  for  founding  a  Colony  in  Southern 
A usl r.-ilui       Ridgway  and  Sons.      1831. 

Article  in  the  Literary  Gazette.     1831. 

Emigration  and  Colonization.  A  Speech  delivered  at  a  general  meeting  of 
the  National  Colonization  Society  in  June,  1830,  l>y  William  Unit,  Esq.  M.P. 
Wibon,  Royal  Exchange,  1833. 

Emigration  l"r  the  Relief  of  Parishes,  practically  considered,  by  Robert 
(Joii^cr.  Ridgwaj  and  Sont,  Piccadilly ;  and  Effingham  Wilson,  Royal  Ex- 
change.  1833. 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  283 

tion  of  the  best  price  would  be  perfectly  secured  ;  no  deserts 
would  be  interposed  among  the  settlers ;  no  one  would  sell 
land  for  less  than  the  government  price  ;  every  buyer  would 
make  his  calculations  accordingly  ;  and  no  one  would  suffer  the 
least  injustice. 

Still,  notwithstanding  the  force  of  all  these  reasons  in  favour 
of  a  uniform  system,  a  colonial  government  would  always  be 
strongly  tempted  to  make  exceptional  grants;  a  bad  colonial 
government,  by  the  wish  to  favour  individuals,  by  all  the  mo- 
tives which  any  where  lead  to  government  jobs;  a  good  colonial 
government,  by  finding  this  the  easiest  way  to  reward  public 
services  and  to  provide  for  public  education.  In  both  cases, 
the  temptation  to  go  wrong  would  become  very  powerful  in- 
deed after  the  plan  of  selling  had  been  acted  on  for  some  time ; 
after  it  had  given  to  waste  land  outside  of  the  settled  districts, 
or  still  within  them,  a  greater  value  than  waste  land  ever  pos- 
sessed before.  Suppose  the  people  so  far  kept  together,  so  far 
in  a  condition  to  help  each  other,  that  their  industry  was  more 
produetive  than  colonial  industry  has  ever  been ;  in  that  case 
all  their  land  would  be  subject  to  some  of  those  advantages, 
over  and  above  superior  natural  fertility,  for  which  rent  is  paid  ; 
and  all  the  land  adjoining  the  settled  districts  would  be  in  a 
state  to  become  very  soon,  with  the  increase  of  wealth  and 
people,  subject  to  the  higher  degrees  of  competition.  Pres- 
ents, therefore,  of  new  land  would  now  be  worth  more  than 
such  presents  have  ever  been  worth  :  the  temptation  to  make 
such  presents  would  be  greater  in  proportion  to  their  greater 
value  ;  while  that  greater  value  of  the  thing  desired  would  whet 
the  ingenuity  of  parasites  and  jobbers,  in  devising  new  pretexts 
for  an  improper  use  of  the  power  of  government.  In  the  case 
of  a  good  colonial  government,  even  in  the  case  of  a  govern- 
ment strictly  representing  all  the  colonists,  the  temptation  to  go 
wrong  would  become  stronger  with  an  increase  in  the  value  of 
new  land :  it  would  be  more  easy  than  it  ever  has  been  to  re- 
ward public  services  and  provide  for  public  education  by  means 
of  gifts  of  new  land.  And  why  not,  some  would  ask,  do  in  the 
easiest  way  that  which  ought  to  be  done  ?  The  question  may 
be  answered  by  another.  Since  the  easiest  way  to  prevent  a 
criminal  from  committing  more  crimes  is  to  hang  him,  why 
not  hang  all  criminals?  why  not  do  in  the  easiest  way  that 
which  ought  to  be  done  ?  Because  more  harm  would  come  to 
society  by  making  the  law  hateful,  than  would  be  prevented  by 
preventing  criminals  from  committing  more  crimes ;  because 
that  very  easy  mode  of  hindering  some  from  committing  crimes 
would  encourage  others  to  commit  crimes,  by  rendering  con- 
viction, or  even  detection  impossible  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of 
a  hundred.    Just  so,  in  colonization,  by  providing  for  so  great 


284  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

a  good  as  public  education  in  the  easiest  way,  that  is,  by  ex- 
ceptional grants  of  land,  more  harm  than  good  would  be  done 
to  society.  But  if,  as  may  easily  happen,  this  should  be  denied 
by  those  who  are  not  familiar  with  the  evils  resulting  to  colo- 
nies from  a  profuse  exercise  by  the  government  of  its  power 
over  waste  land,  I  would  remind  these,  that  the  choice  does  not 
lie  between  knowledge  and  ignorance,  but  between  two  modes 
of  securing  education :  just  as  in  jurisprudence,  the  choice  is, 
not  between  the  prevention  and  non-prevention  of  crimes  by 
persons  already  criminal,  but  between  two  modes  of  preven- 
tion, the  easiest  mode,  hanging,  and  a  troublesome  mode,  the 
reformation  or  confinement  of  the  criminals.  If  all  the  waste 
land,  without  exception,  were  sold  at  the  right  price,  then  might 
public  education  be  provided  for  out  of  the  money  paid  for 
land  ;  or,  the  people  being  richer,  because  kept  more  together, 
by  means  of  contributions  from  the  public  in  the  shape  of 
taxes.  A  moderate  land  tax,  for  example,  would  take  from 
each  proprietor  of  land  less  than  would  be  bestowed  upon  him 
by  a  uniform  system  of  selling  new  land  at  the  best  price.  If, 
on  the  contrary,  the  great  good  of  public  education  were 
sought  by  means  of  exceptional  grants,  a  door  would  be  left 
open  for  other  exceptions.  Those,  for  example,  who  think  a 
political  church  very  good,  would  demand  exceptional  grants 
for  that  purpose  :  if  real  public  services  were  rewarded  by  ex- 
ceptional grants,  such  grants  might  be  made  for  pretended  pub- 
lic services.  Once  allow,  by  admitting  a  single  exception,  that 
the  facility  of  doing  good  in  this  way  is  a  sufficient  reason  for 
taking  this  way  to  do  good,  and  pretexts  would  never  be  want- 
ing for  doing  harm  in  so  easy  a  way ;  harm  of  two  sorts,  that 
which  might  arise  from  giving  land  for  improper  purposes,  and 
that  which  must  arise  from  counteracting  the  desired  effect  of 
requiring  the  proper  price  for  every  addition  of  territory. 

The  importance  of  complete  uniformity  in  any  system  for 
treating  the  chief  element  of  colonization  is  so  great,  that  I  am 
tempted,  at  the  risk  of  tiring  the  reader,  to  illustrate;  my  view 
of  the  subject  by  a  supposed  case,  which  will  be  readily  under- 
stood, even  by  those  who  ha\  e  ne\  er  w  itnessed  the  mischievous 
effects  on  a  colony  of  irregularity  in  granting  and  withholding 
new  land. 

Suppose  that  the  English  government  had  found  amass  of 
pure  gold  in  Middlesex,  close  to  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and 
weighing  some  thousands  of  millions  of  pounds;  and  further, 
that  it  was  an  object  of  great  moment  to  the  people  of  Eng- 
land to  keep  up  the  present  value  of  gold,  neither  more  nor 
less.  In  thai  case,  how  would  the  government,  supposing  it 
bent  on  the  advantage  of  the  people,  use  its  power  over  this 
rich  mine?     Here  would  be  a  very  easy  way  of  paying  offthe 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  L'85 

national  debt ;  but  if  this  were  done  in  this  way,  more  evil 
would  come  to  the  people  than  if  their  debt  had  been  doubled. 
Supposing,  as  we  do,  that  the  object  was  to  preserve  the  actual 
value  of  gold,  then  would  the  government  supply  the  people 
with  enough  gold  to  make  up  for  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  cur- 
rency, and  to  maintain,  if  the  people  and  their  money  transac- 
tions were  increasing,  the  actual  proportion  between  the  de- 
mand and  supply  of  gold.  But  in  order  to  issue  gold  enough, 
without  issuing  too  much,  some  rule  must  be  adopted  ;  would 
it  ever,  in  any  case,  be  departed  from  ?  Clearly  not ;  because 
a  general  plan  with  exceptions  would  be,  not  a  rule,  but  several 
plans  working  at  the  same  time,  and  perhaps  in  opposite  direc- 
tions. The  rule,  to  be  worth  any  thing  for  its  object,  must  be 
complete :  th;it  is,  whatever  the  mode  of  issuing  gold  adopted 
by  way  of  rule,  it  must  be  strictly  observed,  or  it  would  be  no 
rule  at  all.  In  such  a  case,  there  would  not  be  wanting  people 
to  ask  for  gold,  as  a  reward  for  public  services,  real  or  pre- 
tended, as  a  support  for  religion,  as  a  fund  for  charity,  or  for 
public  education.  Our  object,  each  set  of  applicants  would 
say,  is  so  very,  very  important,  and  the  facility  of  accomplishing 
it  in  this  way  is  so  very,  very  great,  that  we  are  entitled  to  an 
exception  from  the  general  rule.  But  to  all  of  these  applicants 
a  good  government  would  answer :  obtain  gold  according  to 
the  rule  ;  in  no  other  way  will  we  issue  a  single  ounce,  seeing 
that  our  first  duty  in  this  matter  is  to  maintain  the  value  of 
money  by  strictly  observing  the  rule.  But  now  suppose  this 
case  with  a  careless  or  corrupt  government.  Here,  if  any  rule 
were  adopted  in  appearance,  the  exceptions  would  be  so  many 
as  to  make  the  rule  a  nullity.  If  the  members  of  this  careless 
or  corrupt  government  had  sense  enough  to  perceive,  that  ex- 
treme profusion  in  the  issue  of  gold  must  soon  render  the 
mine  worthless,  they  would,  for  their  own  sake,  issue  gold  with 
some  caution,  but  still  with  shameful  injustice,  favouring  some 
at  the  expense  of  others,  granting  at  one  time  and  refusing  at 
another,  causing  violent  fluctuations  in  the  value  of  money,  and 
in  time  ruining  every  one  of  their  richer  subjects,  one  after 
the  other.  If  the  government  were  very  ignorant  as  well  as 
careless  and  corrupt,  it  would  be  tempted,  by  the  facility  of 
doing  favours  and  complying  with  urgent  requests,  to  issue  so 
much  gold,  that  the  mine  would  soon  be  worth  nothing,  and 
there  would  be  an  end  of  the  mischief.  Colonizing  govern- 
ments being,  nearly  all  of  them,  careless  and  corrupt,  have, 
most  of  them,  had  sense  enough  to  perceive,  that  there  was  a 
degree  of  profusion  in  granting  waste  land  which  would  render 
worthless  their  power  over  this  element  of  wealth.  Not  so 
the  government  which  founded  the  Swan  River  colony. 
There  the  profusion  has  been  so  great  that  waste  land  is  not 


286  THE    AKT    OF    COLONIZATION. 

worth  the  trouble  of  accepting  it  :*  the  rich  mine  of  gold  is 
worth  nothing.  But,  allowing  for  some  caution  in  colonial 
governments,  the  evils  which  it  is  in  their  power  to  inflict  on 
their  subjects,  by  the  capricious  exercise  of  their  power  over 
waste  land,  are  greater  than  those  which  would  be  inflicted  on 
the  English  by  a  very  ignorant  government,  having  power  over 
an  immense  quantity  of  gold.  It  is  the  very  caution  of  those 
colonizing  governments,  for  their  own  ends,  which  preserves 
their  power  to  do  mischief.  How  much  mischief  they  have 
done,  and  may  yet  do,  by  retaining  power  over  waste  land,  and 
exerting  that  power  capriciously,  may  be  conceived,  even  by 
the  inhabitant  of  an  old  country,  who  will  reflect  on  this  sup- 
posed case  of  a  very  rich  gold  mine  at  the  disposal  of  a  care- 
less and  corrupt  government,  and  who  will  further  bear  in  mind 
how  much  the  value  of  land,  of  capital,  and  of  labour,  depend 
upon  the  proportion  between  land  and  people. 

The  last  condition  of  a  good  rule  for  the  disposal  of  waste 
land  is  permanency.  One  rule  at  one  time,  and  another  rule 
at  another  time,  would  be  nearly  as  bad  as  no  rule  at  all.  The 
Swan  River  settlement  has  not  existed  five  years  ;  but  already 
three  quite  different  plans  have  been  adopted  in  that  colony  for 
the  disposal  of  new  land.  In  the  description  of  the  first  plan 
issued  by  the  English  government,  it  was  stated,  in  so  many 
words,  that  another  plan,  which  was  not  described,  would  be 
adopted  in  a  year  or  two :  another  plan  was  adopted  within 
less  than  two  years  after  the  first  expedition  sailed  ;  and  then, 
with  the  change  of  ministry  in  England,  came  a  third  plan  :  all 
within  three  years.  The  first  and  the  last  plan  were  as  differ- 
ent as  possible.  According  to  the  first  plan,  any  one  might  ob- 
tain an  unlimited  quantity  of  land  for  nothing;  according  to 
the  last,  no  one  could  obtain  new  land  except  by  paying  five 
shillings,  at  least,  per  acre.  Until  1831,  grants  were  obtainable 
for  nothing  in  Van  Dieman's  Land,  New  South  Wales,  and 
Canada:  this  year.no  land  will  be  granted  except  to  pur- 
chasers :  next  year  the  plan  of  gratuitous  grants  may  be  re- 
vived. The  last  change  of  system  in  the  English  colonies  was 
brought  about,  not  by  an  act  of  the  legislature,  but  simply  by 
means  of  letters  from  the  English  colonial  minister  to  the  colo- 
nial governors,  saying  hi  effect: — This  is  the  way  in  which  you 
will  dispose  of  waste  land  until  1  change  my  mind,  or  you  hear 
from  my  successor.  Here,  says  an  anonymous  paper  issued 
from  Downing-Street  on  the  fust  of  March,  1831  ;  here  is  "a 

r  *  Lad  year,  a  hundred  thousand  acre*  of  picked  land,  near  the  Swan  Rivatfe 
was  offered  fur  sale  at  the  rate  of  leas  than  a  farthing  per  acre;  but  no  buyer 
could  be  found.  At  the  tame  time,  watte  land  was  sola  by  the  government  In 
New  Bool  h  Wales  and  Van  Dieman's  Land  at  prices  varying  from  five  to  twenty 
■hillings  per  acre. 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  287 

summary  of  the  rules  which  it  has  been  thought  fit  to  substitute 
for  those  dated  the  20th  of  July,  1830."  Here,  says  another 
anonymous  publication  from  Downing-street,  dated  January  20, 
1831,  is  M  a  summary  of  the  rules  which  it  has  been  thought  jit 
to  lay  down  for  regulating  the  sales  of  land  in  New  South 
Wales  and  Van  Dieman's  Land."  Who  thought  fit  ?  thought 
fit  to  make  such  very  important  changes  in  the  political  econ- 
omy of  these  colonies  ?  The  English  colonial  minister  :  but 
his  successor  may  think  fit  to  change  back  again  to  the  old  plan, 
or  to  adopt  some  entirely  new  plan  ;  and  whatever  an  igno- 
rant, lazy  English  lord  shall  please  to  call  "  a  summary  of  rules," 
to  that  must  the  colonists  submit  without  appeal.  Allow  that 
the  last  change  is  good  for  the  colonists  ;  that  the  plan  now  fol- 
lowed is  far  better  than  the  irregular  and  corrupt  practices  for 
which  it  has  been  substituted  ;  still,  what  security  have  the 
buyers  of  land,  according  to  the  new  plan,  against  being  cheated 
of  their  purchase-money  by  the  revival  of  old  practices  ?  The 
new  plan  is  hateful  to  the  colonial  governments,  from  whom  it 
takes  their  most  valuable  privilege  ;  the  privilege  of  jobbing  in 
the  disposal  of  waste  land.  It  is  hateful,  likewise,  to  those  in 
England,  who  belong  to  what  has  been  called  "  the  red  tape 
school  of  politics,"  or  "  the  Peel  and  Dawson  crew."*  At 
present,  the  home  minister  might  give  his  cousin  a  letter  of  in- 
troduction to  the  colonial  minister,  without  getting  for  that 
cousin  500,000  acres  of  waste  land.  The  new  plan,  which  was 
suggested  to  the  government  by  a  society  in  London,  came  upon 
the  colonial  governments  by  surprise.  Had  they  been  con- 
sulted about  it,  they  would  probably,  assisted  by  a  strong  party 
in  the  colonial  office  at  home,  have  induced  Lord  Goderich  to 
abstain  from  writing  those  letters  by  which  the  new  plan  has 
been  set  on  foot.  As  it  is,  human  nature  will  be  at  fault,  if 
they  do  not  exert  themselves  to  get  the  old  practices  revived  ; 
and  they  will  be  zealously  backed  by  cunning  allies  in  Down- 
ing-street. The  successor  of  Lord  Goderich,  a  traveller  in 
America,  is  not  likely  to  revive  the  old  English  jobbing  plan  or 
practices ;  but  he  may,  if  it  please  him,  by  a  stroke  of  his  pen  ; 
as  may  his  successor.  Whatever  dependence,  then,  the  colo- 
nists may  place  on  the  American  knowledge,  the  industry,  and 
maybe  the  pride  of  Mr.  Stanley,  they  have  no  security,  worth 
the  name,  for  the  continuance  of  the  present  system.  That 
the  new  plan,  that  any  plan  should  work  well,  while  so  liable 
to  be  changed  or  overturned,  is  quite  impossible.  They  man- 
age these  things  better  in  America.  There,  the  disposal  of 
waste  land  is  a  separate  department  of  government.     The 

*  See  that  clever  organ  of  the  political  church,  and  of  the  tory  party  in  Eng- 
land, the  Standard  newspaper. 


283 


THE    ART   OF    COLONIZATION. 


general  plan  of  selling  has  been  established  by  congress  :  when 
the  price  has  been  altered,  it  was  congress  that  decided  on  the 
change  :  congress  alone  can  make  exceptional  grants.  The 
system  is  upheld  by  the  united  legislature  of  all  the  states,  and 
is  administered  by  persons  chosen  for  their  fitness,  responsible 
to  the  people,  and  compelled,  not  only  to  publish  an  account 
of  all  their  proceedings,  but  to  proceed,  step  by  step,  in  the  face 
of  the  public.  Here,  then,  are  the  best  securities  against 
change  ;  an  act  of  the  legislature  with  constant  publicity.  The 
result  is,  that  in  America,  every  buyer  of  waste  land  knows 
what  he  is  about,  makes  his  calculations  on  sure  grounds  :  and 
that  the  government  obtains,  by  the  sale  of  waste  land,  3,000,000 
dollars  a  year.  If  the  congress  of  America  were  to  raise  the 
price  of  waste  land  up  to  that  point,  which  would  prevent  any 
hurtful  dispersion  of  the  people,  without  causing  any  hurtful 
density  of  population,  and  should  also  cease  to  make  excep- 
tional grants,  then  would  their  rule  for  the  disposal  of  waste 
land  be  quite  perfect ;  of  the  right  measure,  uniform  and  last- 
ing ;  operating  like  a  belt,  tight  but  elastic,  all  round  and  at  all 
times.  This  is  the  mode  of  proceeding  suggested  by  the  Eng- 
lish Colonization  Society. 

In  any  colony  where  this  perfect  rule  for  treating  the  chief 
element  of  colonization  should  be  adopted,  colonization  would 
proceed,  not  as  everywhere  hitherto,  more  or  less,  by  the  scat- 
tering of  people  over  a  wilderness,  and  placing  them  for  ages 
in  a  state  between  civilization  and  barbarism,  but  by  the  exten- 
sion to  new  places  of  all  that  is  good  in  an  old  society  ;  by  the 
removal  to  new  places  of  people,  civilized,  and  experienced  in 
all  the  arts  of  production  ;  willing  and  able  to  assist  each  other ; 
excited  to  the  most  skilful  application  of  capital  and  labour  by 
ready  markets  for  disposing  of  surplus  produce  ;  producing,  by 
means  of  the  most  skilful  industry  in  the  richest  field,  more  than 
colonial  industry  has  ever  produced;  obtaining  the  highest 
profits  of  capital  and  the  highest  wages  of-labour  ;  offering  the 
strongest  attraction  for  the  immigration  of  capital  and  people; 
increasing  rapidly  ;  enjoying  the  advantages  of  an  old  society 
without  its  evils ;  without  any  call  for  slavery,  or  restrictions  on 
foreign  trade:  an  old  society  in  everything  save  the  uneasi- 
ness of  capitalists  and  the  misery  of  the  bulk  of  the  people. 
Colonization,  as  hitherto  conducted,  may  be  likened  to  the 
building  of  a  bridge1;  a  work,  no  part  of  which  is  complete 
until  the  whole  be  completed:  according  to  the  method  here 
proposed,  colonization  would  be  like the  making  of  a  tunnel ;  a 
work,  in  the  progress  of  which  each  step  must  be  complete 
before  another  step  can  be  taken. 

Two  objections  to  this  system  remain  to  be  noticed. 

1.  It  has   been   said:   If  the   price  of  new  laud  were    high 


THE    ART   OF    COLONIZATION.  289 

enough  to  prevent  any  one  from  legally  acquiring  more  land 
than,  for  the  good  of  the  whole  society,  he  ought  to  acquire, 
people  would  use  land  without  a  title  ;  the  beneficial  compact 
among  the  colonists,  implied  by  a  uniform  and  fixed  rule  for 
the  disposal  of  new  land,  would  not  be  observed  by  all  the  peo- 
ple :  some  would  become  squatters,  that  is,  settlers  on  new 
land  without  a  title.  The  answer  to  this  objection  places  the 
merits  of  the  system  in  a  strong  point  of  view. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,   that  in  the  history  of  American 
colonization,  there  is  but  one  instance  of  a  person  having  settled 
totally  out  of  the  reach  of  markets  ;  the  case  of  the  celebrated 
Daniel  Boon,  who  is  known,  for  what  ?  for  his  eccentricity. 
Invariably,  then,  it  may  be  said,  when  people  use  land  without 
a  title,  they  keep  within  reach  of  some  market  in  which  to  ob- 
tain, by  the  sale  of  what  their  own  labour  produces,  something 
which  their  own  labour  will  not  produce.     They  do  not  intend 
to  cut  themselves  off  from  all  social  intercourse ;  they  use  land 
so  near  to  the  settled  districts  that  it  is  liable  to  be  taken  from 
them  as  colonization  advances.     In  many  cases,  squatting  has 
been  encouraged  by  a  regulation,  which  awarded  to  the  holder 
of  land  without  a  title,  when  the  land  should  be  taken  from  him, 
compensation  for  the  improvements  which  he  had  made  upon 
the  land.     But,  in  every  case,  the  squatter  expects  that  his  land 
will  be  taken  from  him  :  nay,  in  most  cases,  he  intends  to  abandon 
it  as  soon  as  he  has  exhausted  its  natural  fertility.    The  object 
of  the  squatter,  then,  is  merely  to  get  a  few  crops  from  a  virgin 
soil,  and  then  to  remove  for  the  purpose  of  exhausting  another 
spot  of  virgin  soil.    But  this,  Americans  know,  and  Mr.  Stuart 
informs  the  English,  is  a  general  practice  in  America  ;  not  only 
with  squatters,  but  with  those  who  have  paid  for  land.    Why  this 
practice  ?     Because,  as  I  have  explained  before,*  of  the  minute 
division  of  labour  in  America  ;    because  labour,  so  minutely 
divided,  would  not,  perhaps,  even  support  the  isolated  labourer, 
unless  the  unproductiveness  of  his  labour  were  counteracted 
by  the  great  productiveness  of  a  virgin  soil.     It  is  the  extreme 
cheapness  of  new  land  which  causes  this  minute  division  of 
labour.     At  all  events,  calculates  the  squatter,  I  must  work  by 
myself:  if  I  must  work  by  myself,  I  must,  in  order  to  live,  use 
and  exhaust  a  virgin  soil :  where's  the  use  of  paying  for  land 
when  one's  only  object  is  to  destroy  its  fertility  1     Here  is  the 
squatter's  motive  for  using  land  without  a  title.     If  the  price  of 
new  land  were  such  as  to  keep  the  people  together,  so  that 
they  might  combine  their  labour,  it  would  be  for  the  interest  of 
every  one  to  remain  where  he  could  be  assisted  and  give  as- 
sistance :  the  motive  of  the  squatter  would  entirely  cease.     As 
it  is.  no  one  goes  beyond  the  reach  of  markets :  in  that  case, 

*  See  Note  X. 

37 


290  THE    ART    OP    COLONIZATION. 

we  have  a  right  to  presume,  no  one  would  go  out  of  the  way 
of  all  the  great  advantages  which  belong  to  combination  of 
labour.  It  appears,  therefore,  that,  by  putting  a  sufficient 
price  upon  new  laud,  squatting,  instead  of  being  encouraged, 
would  be  prevented.  This  will  be  still  more  clear,  when  we 
shall  see  with  what  great  rapidity  colonization  would  advance  ; 
how  very  soon  a  squatter,  it'  there  were  one,  not  going  out  of 
the  reach  of  markets,  would  be  overtaken  by  society,  provided 
the  purchase-money  of  all  new  land  were  employed  in  accel- 
erating the  progress  of  colonization. 

2.  The  second  objection  is,  that  into  a  colony,  where  new 
land  was  not  obtainable  except  by  purchase,  neither  capitalists 
nor  labourers  would  be  disposed  to  immigrate  ;  but  that,  on 
the  contrary,  from  such  a  colony  both  classes  would  be  dis- 
posed to  emigrate  to  other  colonies  not  far  off,  where  new  land 
was  obtainable  for  nothing. 

We  cannot  decide  this  point  by  reference  to  facts  ;  because 
in  no  colony  has  that  price  ever  been  required  for  new  land 
which,  together  with  perfect  liberty  of  appropriation,  would 
ensure  the  greatest  productiveness  of  industry,  or,  in  other 
words,  the  highest  profits  and  wages.  But  there  are  some 
facts  which  tend  to  show,  that  the  attractive  power  of  a  colony 
would  be  increased  by  putting  a  sufficient  price  upon  all  new 
land.  Why  have  so  many  English  and  Irish  labourers,  who 
had  emigrated  to  Canada,  removed  from  Canada  to  the  United 
States  ?  from  a  colony  where  land  was  cheaper  to  one  where 
it  was  dearer.  The  only  rational  answer  is,  because  employ- 
ment was  more  regular,  with  higher  wages,  where  the  people 
were  in  some  degree  kept  together  than  where  they  were  care- 
fully dispersed.  Why  is  not  the  Swan  River  colony,  where, 
under  a  fine  climate,  land  is  so  very  cheap  ;  why  is  not  this  a 
favourite  colony  with  English  emigrants,  both  capitalists  and 
labourers?  Why  have  so  many  people,  both  labourers  and 
capitalists,  emigrated  from  the  Swan  River  to  colonies  where 
land  was  dearer?  Why  does  it  happen,  when  a  lame  tract  of 
new  land  is  bought  by  an  American  company,  and  resold  by 
them  in  lots  with  great  profit,  thai  to  this  spot  people  (lock, 
both  capitalists  and  labourers,  and  here  congregate  lor  the  ad- 
vantages which  come  from  mutual  assistance.  In  this  last,  case, 
as  to  a  great  tract  of  country,  the  company  take  the  place  of 
government,  and  will  not  part  with  any  land  except  at  a  higher 
price  than  that  which  they  have  paid  t<>  the  government.  In 
all  these  cases,  people  are  attracted  from  a  worse  to  a  better 
proportion  between  land  and  people;  from  lower  to  higher 
profits  and  wanes.  That  it  should  he  so,  is  consistent  with  the 
principles  of  human  nature  and  political  economy.  True  it  is, 
that  people  now  and  then  go  from  a  better  to  a  worse  propor- 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  291 

tion  between  land  and  people  ;  as  when  citizens  of  the  United 
States  emigrate  to  Canada :  but  these  are  exceptions  to  the 
general  rule ;  just  as  those  who  ruin  their  fortunes  and  destroy 
their  health  by  excessive  debauchery,  do  that  which  is  contrary 
to  their  own  interest,  and  therefore  contrary  to  a  law  of  politi- 
cal economy  and  human  nature.  The  case  of  those  capitalists 
who  emigrate  from  an  old  country,  led  on  by  the  hope  of 
acquiring  wealth,  by  obtaining  for  little  or  nothing  immense 
tracts  of  wilderness,  arises  from  profound  ignorance.  If  this 
case  support  the  objection  under  review,  then,  when  a  child  is 
poisoned  by  mistaking  night-shade  berries  for  red  currants,  it 
goes  to  prove  that  children  have  no  sentiment  of  self-preserva- 
tion. These  men  act  like  the  colonial  minister  of  England, 
who  sent  butts  for  holding  fresh  water  to  ships  that  were  float- 
ing on  a  fresh  water  sea.  Judging  of  a  desert  country  by  what 
they  see  in  one  thickly  peopled,  they  dream  of  domains  and 
millions  till  they  awake,  having  lost  their  all.  But  the  people 
of  a  colony,  in  which  there  existed  the  advantages  of  a  proper 
decree  of  concentration,  could  not  be  ignorant  of  those  ad- 
vantages ;  and  the  existence,  for  the  first  time,  of  those  great 
advantages  would  surely  become  known  both  in  other  colonies 
and  in  the  mother  country.  Such  a  colony,  then,  would  be 
highly  attractive :  how  much  more  attractive,  both  to  capital- 
ists and  labourers,  than  colonies  have  ever  been,  will  be  seen  in 
the  following  section  of  this  treatise  ;  where  it  is  explained,  that 
if  all  the  purchase-money  of  waste  land  were  properly  disposed 
of,  capitalists  in  the  colony  would  always  be  supplied  with 
labour,  and  every  labourer  reaching  the  colony  might  surely 
become  not  only  a  land-owner,  but,  something  more  grateful 
to  one  of  his  class,  a  master  of  other  labourers.  The  first 
colony  in  which  labour  was  plentiful,  though  dear,  and  in  which 
labourers  might  be  sure  to  become  masters  as  well  as  land- 
owners ;  the  first  colony  in  which  there  was  the  good  without 
the  evil  of  an  old  society,  would  probably  attract  people,  both 
capitalists  and  labourers,  from  colonies  in  which,  along  with 
the  good,  there  was  all  the  evil  of  a  new  society. 

II.   The  removal  of  the  people. 

In  a  colony  where  new  land  was  supplied  in  proportion  to 
the  wants  of  a  people  increasing  rapidly  in  wealth  and  numbers  ; 
where  the  produce  of  industry  was  so  great  as  to  give  high 
profits  and  high  wages,  where,  consequently,  all  should  possess 
the  means  of  removal,  and  where,  moreover,  the  land  newly 
become  the  property  of  individuals  should  increase  very  rapidly 
in  value,  by  very  soon  becoming  subject  to  the  higher  kinds  of 
competition  which  produce  rent ;  in  such  a  colony,  there  would 


292  THE    ART    OP    COLONIZATION. 

be  motives  in  plenty  for  the  removal  of  people  from  the  settled 
to  the  waste  parts  of  the  colony.  Colonization  would  go  on 
of  itself,  through  the  increase  of  people,  by  births  in  the  colony. 
But  more  quickly  than  in  proportion  to  such  increase,  coloni- 
zation could  not  go  on,  unless  means  were  found  to  remove 
people  from  some  old  country.  For  the  immigration  of  people 
from  an  old  country,  the  inducement,  we  have  seen  already, 
would  be  high  profits,  and  especially  high  wages.  Those  who 
would  come  in  search  of  high  profits  may  be  supposed  to  pos- 
sess the  means  of  coming.  But  those  who  would  most  desire 
to  come  in  search  of  high  wages,  are  the  poorest  of  the  poor 
in  old  countries ;  so  poor  as  to  be  unable  to  move  from  one 
to  another  part  of  their  own  country ;  people  who  live  from 
hand  to  mouth,  never  having  any  property  save  their  own 
thews  and  sinews.  This,  however,  is  the  class  of  people 
whose  immigration  into  a  colony  it  would  be  most  useful  to 
promote  ;  a  class  who,  as  labourers  should  become  capitalists 
and  land-owners,  would  fill  their  place  in  the  market  of  labour ; 
becoming  themselves,  in  time,  capitalists  and  land-owners,  and 
having  their  place  filled,  in  turn,  by  immigrants  of  the  same 
class.  These,  however  strong  their  inducement  to  emigration, 
cannot  move  without  assistance.  If  they  are  to  move  at  all, 
the  cost  of  their  passage  must  be  defrayed,  or  at  least  advanced, 
by  somebody.  It  might  be  greatly  for  the  advantage  of  the  old 
country  to  defray  the  cost  of  their  passage  ;  but  here  we  are 
considering  only  the  means  which  a  colony  possesses  of  pro- 
moting immigration  without  the  aid  of  an  old  country.  The 
question  then  is, — How  may  a  colony  advantageously  pay  for 
the  immigration  of  labour?  that  is,  build  a  bridge,  as  it  were, 
toll  free,  Tor  the  passage  of  poor  labourers  from  an  old  country 
to  the  colony  ? 

Reflecting  on  the  urgent  want  of  labour  that  occurs  in  all 
colonies  which  prosper,  we  may  be  sure,  that  great  pains  have 
been  taken  by  people  in  colonies  to  devise  some  means  of 
obtaining  a  regular  supply  of  labour  from  old  countries.  The 
supplies  of  labour  obtained  by  kidnapping  in  the  old  English 
colonies  of  America,  by  the  late  immigration  of  poor  Germans 
into  the  United  Stales;  poor  Germans  who,  ignorant  of  the 
laws  and  of  tin'  language  of  America,  were  liable  to  be  held  in 
a  state  of  bondage  ;  and  by  the  transportation  system  in  New 
South  Wales  and  Van  Dienian's  Land:  all  these  supplies  of 
labour  depended  on  a  kind  of  slavery.  Every  scheme  of  the 
sort,  that  did  not  establish  a  kind  of  slavery,  has  failed  the 
moment  it  was  tried.  On  the  principle  of  the  redemptioner 
system,  thai  of  payment  by  a  capitalist  for  the  poor  immigrant's 
pass;ig<\  re-payment  being  obtained  by  the  immigrant's  labour, 
many  schemes  have  been  tried,  and  havo   failed,  in  Canada, 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  293 

New  South  Wales,  Van  Dieraan's  Land,  and  South  Africa  ;  not 
to  mention  the  Swan  River.  And  yet  nothing  can  be  more 
plain  than  that  the  capitalists  of  a  colony  and  the  labourers  of 
an  old  country  would  rind  it  for  their  mutual  advantage  to  act 
on  this  principle.  About  the  advance  by  the  capitalist  there  is 
no  sort  of  difficulty  ;  so  much  greater  would  be  to  him  the 
value  of  the  poor  immigrant's  labour  for  a  few  years,  even  at 
high  wages,  than  the  cost  of  the  immigrant's  passage.  Nor  is 
there  any  difficulty  in  finding  poor  labourers  willing,  nay  eager, 
to  engage  with  colonial  capitalists  for  a  certain  term  of  service 
in  the  colony.  The  difficulty  lies  in  this  ;  that  without  some 
kind  of  slavery,  the  capitalist  has  no  security  for  repayment  of 
his  outlay  :  that  the  labourer,  as  soon  as  he  reaches  the  colony, 
laughs  at  his  engagement ;  that  what  the  capitalist  brings  to  the 
colony  in  the  shape  of  labour,  ceases  to  be  labour  the  moment 
it  reaches  the  colony  ;  or,  at  all  events,  is  never  labour  over 
which  he  who  paid  for  it  has  any  control.  During  the  last 
fifteen  years,  some  thousands  of  poor  labourers,  to  speak  within 
compass,  have  been  conveyed  from  England  to  English  colonies 
at  the  expense  of  colonial  capitalists,  and  under  engagement  to 
work  for  those  who  had  paid  for  their  passage.  "  There  is  no 
instance  on  record,"  says  Mr.  M'Arthur,  the  greatest  capitalist 
of  New  South  Wales,  "  where  settlers  have  been  able  to  pre- 
vent their  indented  servants,  hired  in  England,  from  becoming 
dissatisfied,  and  then  leaving  them  after  their  arrival."  At  the 
Swan  River,  the  first  settlers  had  hardly  landed  before  the 
governor  was  required  to  punish  indented  labourers  for  refusing 
to  work  for  those  who  had  brought  them  from  England.  In 
Canada,  universally,  labouring  servants  taken  from  England  and 
Ireland  by  capitalists,  under  engagement  to  repay  with  labour 
the  cost  of  their  passage,  have  quitted  those  to  whom  they 
were  bound,  to  work  for  others,  who,  not  having  laid  out  money 
in  that  way,  could  afford  to  pay  higher  wages  than  those  who 
had.  If  it  had  been  possible  to  enforce  such  contracts,  what 
Canadian  would  have  written  :  "  Place  us  on  an  equal  footing 
with  New  South  Wales,  by  giving  us  a  share  in  those  benefits 
which  must,  more  or  less,  accrue  from  convict  labour  ?"*  In 
vain  have  severe  laws  been  passed  to  enforce  the  observance 
of  such  contracts  by  the  labourer,  and  to  prevent  such  immi- 
grants from  being  employed  except  by  those  who  had  paid  for 
their  immigration.  It  has  been  all  so  thoroughly  in  vain,  that 
the  difficulty,  not  to  say  impossibility,  of  conducting  immigra- 
tion in  this  way,  seems  to  be  established. 

*  Suggestions  on  the  propriety  of  re-introducing  British  Convict  Labour  into 
British  IN'orth  America.     By  a  Canadian,  1824. 


294  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

To  meet  this  difficulty,  an  ingenious  writer  in  the  Quarterly 
Review*  has  proposed  to  create  a  colonial  fund  for  the  immi- 
gration of  labour,  by  means  of  a  tax  on  wages.  Thus  the 
poor  labourer  brought  to  the  colony  would  repay  the  cost  of 
his  passage  by  a  deduction  from  his  wages ;  and  the  fund  so 
raised  would  be  employed  in  bringing  more  labourers,  who,  in 
their  turn,  would  repay  the  cost  of  their  passage,  and  provide 
a  fund  for  the  immigration  of  other  labourers.  The  principle 
of  this  suggestion  is  excellent ;  but  is  the  execution  of  it  more 
practicable  than  the  enforcement  of  contracts  for  service, 
which  are  based  on  the  same  principle  ?  Unless  the  price  of 
new  land  were  raised  up  to  the  golden  mean,  there  would  be 
scarce  any  hired  labour  to  tax ;  scarce  any  wages  from  which 
to  make  a  deduction.  But  supposing  the  poor  immigrants 
should,  during  a  certain  period,  work  for  high  wages,  how  is 
the  tax-gatherer  to  distinguish  workmen,  whose  passage  had 
been  paid  for  them,  from  those  who  had  paid  for  their  own 
passage,  or  from  those  born  in  the  colony?  If  very  severe 
laws  have  failed  to  hold  immigrant  labourers  to  their  engage- 
ments, what  law  could  be  devised  that  would  induce  them  to 
remain  subject  to  a  deduction  from  their  wages  ?  In  a  word, 
the  scheme  appears  to  be  impracticable. 

This  scheme  may  have  been  suggested  to  its  author  by  the 
proposal  of  the  Golonization  Society.^  Their  proposal  was, 
That,  no  waste  land  being  disposed  of  by  the  government  ex- 
cept by  public  sale  at  a  fixed  upset  price,  all  the  purchase-money 
should  be  employed  in  bringing  poor  labourers  to  the  colony. 
As  labourers  brought  to  the  colony  in  this  way  would  in  time, 
ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  of  them,  purchase  land  with 
savings  from  their  wnges ;  and  as  this  deduction  from  their 
wages  would  be  employed  to  bring  more  labourers,  who  in 
their  turn  would  save  money  and  buy  land,  the  proposal  of  the 
society  may  be  said  to  be  founded  on  the  same  principle  as 
the  suggestion  of  the  Quarterly  Review :  namely,  the  repay- 
ment by  the  immigrant's  labour  of  the  cost  of  his  passage. 
But  over  that  suggestion  the  proposal  of  the  society  has  some 
great  advantages,  which  will  become  manifest  as  we  examine 
the  plan  more  closely. 

J.  This  plan  would  be  very  easily  carried  into  effect.  The 
experience  of  the  I  rnited  States  shows,  that  it  is  very  easy  to 
raise  a  fund  by  the  sale  of  waste  land-  Not  to  reckon  how  much 
larger  the  fund  raised  in  that  way  by  the  United  States  would 

l'n  ranted  t"  be  Mr.  Powlett  Serope. 
t  The  number  of  the  Quarterly  Junta-,  in  which  iliis  scheme  was  proposed, 
appeared  not  long  after  the  publication  of  A  Letter  from  Sydney ;  in  which  the 
impoi  ■  apprenticed  labourers  to  their  engagements  wai  ex- 

plained at  length. 


THE    AttT    OF    COLONIZATION.  295 

be,  if  the  price  of  new  land  were  brought  up  to  the  golden 
mean,  and  if  no  exceptional  grants  were  made,  the  Americang 
do  actually  raise  by  the  sale  of  waste  land  near  700,000/.  a 
year.  What  could  be  more  easy  than  for  the  United  States 
to  spend  this  income  in  fetching  labour  to  America?  We  have 
only  to  suppose  that  congress  should  choose  to  do  this,  and 
we  suppose  the  plan  of  the  English  Colonization  Society 
carried  into  effect  without  any  sort  of  difficulty.* 

2.  Pursuing  this  case,  for  the  sake  of  more  ready  illustration, 
the  disposal  of  this  fund  in  this  way  would  bring  to  the  United 
States  in  the  first  year  (reckoning  the  cost  of  each  immigrant's 
passage  to  be  71.)  100,000  labourers.  But  as  the  income 
which  the  United  States  obtain  by  the  sale  of  waste  land  has 
been  steadily  increasing  for  years,  along  with  the  increase  of 
people  by  births  and  immigration,  so  would  that  fund  increase 
much  more  rapidly,  if  each  year's  income  were  employed  in 
bringing  to  the  United  States  people  who  must  otherwise  have 
remained  at  home.  The  added  labour  of  100,000  persons  in 
one  year  would  provide  the  means  of  purchasing  land  to  meet 
the  wants  of  a  population  so  growing  in  numbers ;  would  pro- 
vide a  fund  for  the  next  year's  immigration,  corresponding  with 
the  additional  demand  for  labour  arising  from  the  increase  of 
capital,  and  of  land  the  property  of  individuals.  According  to 
the  extent  of  land  sold,  would  be  the  increase  of  demand  for 
labour  wherewith  to  cultivate  the  new  land  ;  and  according  to 
the  extent  of  land  sold,  would  be  the  amount  of  the  fund  for 


*  The  most  simple  method  of  laying  out  the  Immigration  fund  would,  proba- 
bly, be  the  formation  of  a  Board  of  immigration,  instructed  to  make  open  con- 
tracts with  ship-owners  for  the  passage  of  labourers  from  Europe  to  America ; 
to  the  amount  in  each  year  of  the  immigration  fund  obtained  in  the  previous 
year  ;  and  at  a  certain  rate  for  each  labourer  landed  in  good  health  at  the  port 
named  in  the  contract.  When  the  English  government  first  sent  convicts  to 
New  South  Wales,  they  used  to  contract  with  ship-owners  for  the  passage  of 
convicts,  at  the  rate  of  so  much  per  head  for  the  number  embarked.  As  the 
captain  was  to  feed  the  convicts  during  their  voyage,  it  was  for  his  interest  that 
they  should  be  sickly,  or  that  they  should  die.  Under  these  contracts,  accord- 
ingly, half:  and  sometimes  two-thirds,  of  the  inmates  of  a  convict  ship  used  to 
die  during  the  voyage.  The  punishment  of  transportation  was,  in  at  least  half 
the  cases,  the  punishment  of  death.  It  was  not  till  this  murderous  system  had 
been  pursued  for  some  years,  that  the  English  government  discovered  the  faulty 
nature  of  those  contracts.  At  present,  the  rate  of  mortality  on  board  convict 
ships  is  said  to  be  lower  than  the  rate  of  mortality  among  the  English  nobility. 
How  was  this  change  brought  about  ?  Simply  by  contracting,  instead  of  for 
the  number  embarked,  for  the  number  landed  in  the  colony.  As  the  captain  or 
ship-owner  is  now  paid  only  for  those  who  reach  their  destination,  it  is  greatly 
for  his  interest  to  keep  all  the  passengers  in  good  health.  Contracts  under 
which  the  ship-owner  was  paid  only  for  those  who  were  landed  in  good  health, 
the  state  of  each  passenger's  health  being  ascertained  by  medical  officers  in  the 
colony,  would  be  a  better  security  for  the  well-being  of  the  immigrants  during 
their  passage,  than  all  those  minute  enactments  which  the  English  parliament 
has  made  for  the  regulation  of  emigrant  ships. 


296  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

procuring  fresh  labour.  Supposing  a  fund  for  immigration  to 
be  got  up  in  some  other  way  than  by  the  sale  of  new  land  ;  as, 
for  example,  by  a  tax  in  the  old  country,  or  by  a  tax  on  wages 
in  the  colony,  there  would  be  no  measure  for  suiting  the  supply 
of  labour  to  the  demand.  Too  much  immigrant  labour  might 
be  introduced  at  one  time,  and  too  little  at  another.  If  the 
supply  were  not  in  some  way  regulated  by  the  demand,  all 
kinds  of  evils  would  ensue.  Unless  the  supply  were  regular, 
unless  those  who  should  become  land-owners  were  replaced 
immediately  by  new  comers,  the  same  obstacles  would  exist 
that  exist  now,  to  the  commencement  of  works  which  require 
the  constant  employment  of  many  hands ;  and  thus,  when  a 
great  supply  of  labourers  should  arrive,  employment  for  them 
might  be  wanting.  Gluts  of  labour,  arising  from  uncertain  im- 
migration, do  frequently  happen  in  Canada  and  the  State  of 
New- York.  The  cause  of  these  gluts  is  explained  by  Mr. 
Tennant  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Senior.  He  says — "  I  have  con- 
versed upon  this  point  with  capitalists  both  of  Quebec  and 
New-York ;  and  I  have  often  heard  them  explain  the  circum- 
stance in  this  way,  '  Notwithstanding'  (say  they)  'our  having 
capital  wherewith  to  employ  labour,  we  have  found  such  immi- 
grations of  labour  a  great  evil  ;  because  we  felt  that  it  would 
be  impossible  to  retain  such  labour  if  we  had  hired  it.  Our 
capital  was  ready  for  many  operations  which  require  a  con- 
siderable period  of  time  for  their  completion  ;  but  we  could 
not  begin  such  operations  with  labour  which,  we  knew,  would 
soon  leave  us.  If  we  had  been  sure  of  retaining  the  labour  of 
such  emigrants,  we  should  have  been  glad  to  have  engaged  it 
at  once,  and  for  a  high  price  :  and  we  should  have  engaged  it, 
even  though  we  had  been  sure  it  would  leave  us,  provided  we 
had  been  sure  of  a  fresh  supply  whenever  we  might  need  it.' 
From  these  and  other  facts,"  says  Mr.  Tennant,  "  it  may  be 
safely  inferred,  that  the  cause  of  the  gluts  of  labour  in  Canada 
and  New-York  might  be  removed  by  rendering  the  supply 
constant  and  regular  ;  thus  permitting  a  much  greater  supply 
in  the  course  of  ten  years,  without,  distress,  than  lias  ever  yet 
taken  place  in  a  similar  period  with  distress."  Now,  by  the 
plan  of  tin-  Colonization  Society,  the  supply  of  labour  must  be 
constant  and  regular  :  because,  fust,  as  no  labourer  would  be 
able  to  procure  land  until  he  had  worked  for  money,  all  immi- 
grant labourers,  working  for  a  time  for  wages  and  in  combi- 
nation, would  produce  capital  for  the  employment  of  more 
labourers;  secondly,  because  every  labourer  who  Kit  oil'  work- 
ing for  wages  and  became  a  laud-owner,  would,  by  purchasing 

land,  provide  a  fund  lor  bringing  fresh  labour  to  the  colony. 

Still,  it  may  be  said,  this  rule  lor  avoiding  at  all  times  any 
glut  of  labour  would  be  obtained,  even  if  the  fund  lor  inunigra- 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  297 

tion  were  raised  by  the  old  country,  provided  no  land  were 
granted  save  upon  payment  of  the  proper  price  ;  because,  in 
that  case,  all  labourers  would  be  employed  lor  a  time  in  creat- 
ing capital  tor  the  employ  merit  of  more  labourers,  and  thus  the 
demand  for  fresh  labour  in  any  given  year  would  always  be 
equal  to  the  supply  of  immigrant  labour  in  the  previous  year. 
Agreed  ;  but  here  there  would  be  no  rule  for  a  sufficient  sup- 
ply of  labour  :  the  evil  of  too  great  a  supply  would  be  avoided, 
but  not  the  evil  of  too  small  a  supply  ;  because  nothing  would 
show  plainly  to  what  extent  the  demand  for  labour  had  in- 
creased. Nothing,  at  least,  would  show  this  half  so  distinctly 
as  the  amount  of  land  sold.  We  might,  indeed,  regulate  the 
supply  of  labour  by  the  amount  of  land  sold,  even  if  the  labour 
were  brought  by  a  fund  raised  out  of  the  colony :  that  is,  the 
old  country  might  spend,  on  the  emigration  of  labour  to  the 
colony  in  one  year,  a  sum  precisely  equal  to  the  sum  raised  in 
the  previous  year  by  the  sale  of  colonial  land.  But  the  object 
of  so  measuring  one  fund  by  the  other  would  be  secured,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  if  the  whole  fund  obtained  by  the  sales  of 
land  were  spent  in  procuring  labour.  One  of  the  greatest 
merits  of  this  plan,  therefore,  seems  to  consist  in  its  self* 
regulating  action. 

3.  We  have  seen  already,  that  it  would  be  greatly  for  the 
advantage  of  a  colony  to  put  one  price  upon  all  new  la'nd  with- 
out exception,  if  merely  with  a  view  to  the  increase  of  the  first 
element  of  wealth,  land,  in  clue  proportion  to  the  increase  of  the 
other  elements,  capital  and  labour  ;  that  by  requiring  this  price, 
as  a  rule  for  the  supply  of  new  land,  the  colonists,  being  suffi- 
ciently kept  together,  would  raise  more  produce,  would  get 
higher  profits  and  wages,  would  have  more  physical  enjoy- 
ments, to  say  nothing  of  their  escape  from  the  moral  evils  of 
great  dispersion  ;  and  that,  consequently,  it  would  he  well  to 
put  the  best  price  upon  all  new  land,  even  though  the  money 
so  raised  should  not  be  employed  in  any  useful  way.  Under 
the  supposition  of  the  money  being  wasted,  the  buyer  of  land 
would  pay  for  justice  and  uniformity  in  the  disposal  of  land, 
and  for  a  free  choice  as  to  the  situation  and  extent  of  his  grant ; 
he  would  pay  also  for  the  assurance  that  no  other  could  obtain 
land  by  favour,  without  payment,  for  the  certainty  of  not  being 
undersold  by  land-owners  who  had  obtained  their  property  for 
nothing  ;  he  would  pay  for  all  the  advantages  of  that  system,  of 
which  his  individual  payment  was  a  part.  But  if  the  money 
were  not  wasted,  he  would  pay,  besides,  though  paying  no 
more,  for  whatever  useful  purpose  the  money  might  serve.  If 
the  money  were  spent  in  procuring  labour,  he  would  pay,  not 
merely  for  his  title  to  the  land  bought,  but  also  for  justice  and 
uniformity  in  the  disposal  of  new  land,  for  a  free  choice,  for  the 

38 


298  THE    ART   OF    COLONIZATION. 

value  conferred  upon  all  land  by  a  due  concentration  of  the, 
people,  for  a  system  which  must  hinder  ruinous  fluctuations 
in  the  value  of  land ;  and  further,  he  would  pay  for  labour 
wherewith  to  cultivate  his  land  ;  for  markets  in  which  to  sell  the 
produce  of  that  labour ;  for  population,  which  must  render  the 
whole  of  his  land  subject  to  one  or  more  of  those  higher  kinds 
of  competition  which  lead  to  the  payment  of  rent.  Nominally, 
he  would  receive  for  his  outlay — laud,  or  the  title  to  hold  and 
sell  land  :  in  reality,  he  would  obtain  the  land  for  nothing ; 
paying  for  a  great  number  of  other  things,  without  any  of  which 
his  land  might  be  worthless  ;  along  with  all  of  which,  it  must, 
no  sooner  than  it  was  bought,  be  worth  more  than  he  had  paid 
for  it.  This  paradox  may  be  explained  away  in  a  moment. 
Mr.  Peel  required  to  invest  1*.  tirf.  per  acre  on  his  grant  of 
500,000  acres,  appeared  to  pay  37,500Z.  for  that  tract  of  land. 
But  he  made  the  investment,  which  was  to  secure  his  title,  in 
taking  labourers  to  the  settlement.  Whether  the  government 
had  bestowed  the  land  on  the  condition  that  the  grantee  should 
spend  37,000Z.  in  conveying  labourers  to  the  settlement,  or  had 
sold  the  grant  for  37,000/.,  spending  the  money  in  that  way, 
would  have  been  perfectly  indifferent:  in  either  case,  the 
grantee  would  have  paid,  not  for  land,  but  for  labour;  he 
would  have  received  the  land  for  nothing,  but  subject  to  the 
condition  of  buying  so  much  labour  wherewith  to  cultivate  it. 
The  average  cost  of  clearing  waste  land  in  Canada  and  the 
northern  parts  of  the  United  States,  is  about  4/.  per  acre.  No 
land,  it  is  plain,  ought  to  be  granted  to  remain  uncleared. 
Now,  suppose  that  the  government  should  require  41.  per  acre 
for  such  land,  using  the  money  to  clear  the  land  :  in  this  case, 
for  what  would  the  grantee  pay  ?  not  for  the  land,  but  for 
having  it  cleared.  So  in  the  case  before  us,  the  grantee^would 
pay  for  the  means  of  cultivating  his  land,  and  for  the  value 
which  that  disposal  of  his  purchase-money  must  bestow  upon 
his  land,  rather  than  lor  the  land  itself. 

4.  It  follows  that,  in  justice  to  :ill  the  buyers  of  land,  in  order 
that  the  supply  of  labour  should  correspond  exactly  with  the 
quantity  of  land  granted,  in  order  to  give  to  ail  of  the  grantees 
the  greatest  return  for  their  purchase-money,  it  would  he  neces- 
sary to  employ  the  whole  <>l  the  fund,  obtained  by  sales  of  land, 
in  fetching  labour  to  the  colony.  If  any  part  of  that  fund 
v\  ere  employed  in  any  other  way,  neither  would  there  be  a  rule 
for  suiting  the  supply  of  labour  to  the  demand,  nor  would  the 
purchasers  of  land  receive  as  much  as  possible  lor  their  money. 
The  necessity,  in  order  to  make  the  system  perfect,  of  avoiding 
any  exceptional  disposal  ol"  this  money,  is  as  clear  as  the  neces- 
sity of  refusing  exc<  ptional  grants  for  the  sake  of  a  good  rule 
by  which  to  gruut  und  withhold  land.     This  will  be  still  inoro 


THE    ART   OF    COLONIZATION.  299 

clear  when  we  shall  look  at  the  circumstances  which  would 
guide  the  government  in  fixing  on  the  best  price  for  land  ;  a 
consideration  reserved  till  now,  for  the  reason  that  will  appear 
in  the  next  paragraph. 

5.  According  to  the  value  of  the  thing  purchased,  ought  to 
be  the  purchase-money.  The  land  bought  would  be  more, 
much  more  valuable,  if  the  purchase-money  were  employed  in 
adding  to  the  colonial  population,  than  if  it  were  used  for  any 
other  purpose  whatever.  By  how  much  more  valuable  we 
cannot  determine  exactly  ;  but  this  is  quite  plain,  that  for  land, 
of  which  all  the  purchase-money  was  devoted  to  the  increase 
of  colonial  population,  a  higher  price  might  properly  be  re- 
quired than  for  land,  Of  which  the  purchase-money  was  wasted, 
or  was  used  in  any  way  less  calculated,  than  the  use  of  it  as 
an  immigration  fund,  to  increase  the  value  of  land.  Thus,  in 
America,  those  who  last  year  paid  700,000/.  for  new  land, 
might,  with  greater  advantage  to  themselves,  have  paid  twice 
the  amount,  or  1,400,000/.  for  the  same  extent  of  land,  if  the 
larger  sum  had  been  employed  in  adding  200,000  souls  to  the 
population  of  the  United  States.  Thus  the  Canada  Company, 
which  has  paid,  or  engaged  to  pay,  to  the  English  government 
304,000/.  for  waste  land  in  Upper  Canada,  might  have  paid 
twice  as  much  for  the  same  land  with  greater  profit,  if  all  their 
purchase-money  had  been  employed  in  adding  to  the  popula- 
tion of  the  colony  ;*  and  if  no  land^had  been  granted  to  other 
people  save  for  money,  and  all  the  money  so  obtained  had  been 
employed  in  the  same  way.  Let  us  suppose  that  by  this  em- 
ployment of  the  purchase-money  of  new  land,  the  cost  of  clear- 
ing land  were  reduced  from  4/.  to  2/s  per  acre,  without  any 
fall  of  wages,  merely  from  the  greater  facility  of  employing 
many  hands  in  combination.  In  this  case,  which  would  be 
better  for  the  American  settler,  to  pay  4/.  5.9.  per  acre  for  his 
land  when  cleared,  that  is  5s.  for  the  title  and  4/.  for  the  clear- 
ing; or  to  pay  2/.  10s.  for  the  land  when  cleared,  that  is  10s. 
instead  of  5s.  for  the  title,  and  2/.  instead  of  41.  for  the  clear- 
ing? Like  illustrations  of  the  advantage  which  the  buyer 
would  derive  from  paying  more,  if  his  purchase-money  were 
used  in  the  way  proposed,  will  occur  to  every  one.  This,  then, 
is  a  most  important  consideration,  with  a  view  to  determining 
the  best  price  for  new  land.  Some  others  appear  scarcely  less 
important. 

To  clear  the  land  of  wood,  a  certain  amount  of  labour  per 
acre   is  required.     The   purchase-money  of  the   land,  then, 

*  The  money  hitherto  paid  by  this  Company  has  been  disposed  of  in  various 
jobs  ;  for  some  account  of  which,  sec  the  evidence  of  Mr.  Wilmot  Horton,  who 
helped  to  dispose  of  the  money,  before  the  committee  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons on  the  Civil  Government  of  Canada. 


300 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 


ought  to  be  sufficient  to  provide  such  an  addition  to  the  labour- 
ing population  as  would  enable  the  proprietor  to  clear  his  land 
without  causing  a  deficiency  of  labour  in  any  other  part  of  the 
colony :  it  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  provide  a  fresh  supply  of 
labour,  corresponding  with  the  new  demand  which  the  acqui- 
sition of  so  much  new  land  had  produced. 

If  the  waste  land  were  already  clear  of  wood,  and  naturally 
in  a  state  fit  for  cultivation,  as  throughout  the  plains  of  Buenos 
Ayres,  the  prairies  of  North  America,  and  a  great  part  of  Aus- 
tralia, the  cost  of  clearing  would  be  saved  :  the  land  would  be 
worth  more,  by  the  cost  of  clearing,  than  land  which  required  to 
be  cleared.  The  produce  of  any  given  amount  of  capital  and 
labour  on  the  clear  land  would  be  greater,  or  would  begot  sooner 
than  the  produce  of  the  same  amount  of  capital  and  labour  em- 
ployed on  thickly-wooded  land.  It  would  appear,  therefore, 
that  for  land  clear  by  nature,  a  higher  price  might  properly  be 
required  than  for  thickly-wooded  land  ;  a  price  higher  by  the 
cost  of  clearing.  On  the  same  ground,  we  shall  conclude  that  a 
higher  price  might  be  required  for  land  naturally  rich  than  for 
land  naturally  poor:  and  if  all  the  land  in  each  colony  were  of 
the  same  quality,  this  consideration  might  be  a  guide  towards 
ascertaining  the  best  price  (breach  colony.  But  the  land  of  all 
countries  is  more  or  less  of  difierent  qualities;  and  yet  it  is 
hard  to  learn  with  any  precision,  concerning  waste  land,  which 
parts  will  prove,  on  being  cultivated,  more  or  less  fertile.  If 
this  distinction  could  be  made  with  precision,  then  might  there 
be  two  or  more  prices  for  land  in  the  same  colony,  without 
any  departure  from  the  rule  of  uniformity  ;  just  as  gold  of  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  fineness  might,  under  one  standard,  be  made 
to  pass  for  different  values.  But,  unable  to  make  this  distinc- 
tion, how  would  the  government  require  for  each  different  por- 
tion of  land  its  proper  price?  how  avoid  requiring  too  little  for 
the  rich  land,  or  too  much  for  the  poor  land?  The  following 
is  one  way,  suggested  by  the  practice  of  the  United  States,  by 
which,  it  appears  to  me,  this  object  might  be  accomplished. 
Take  the  richer  land  ;s  the  guide ^  ascertain  whal  would  be 
the  best  price  if  all  the  land  were  of  the  same  quality  as  the 
richer  portions \  and  let  this  be  the  lowest  upset  price  at  which 
any  land  should  be  Bold.  Thru  open  tin.  land  to  buyers.  The 
first  buyers  in  any  district  would  neglect  the  poorer  land,  would 
select  the  richer  lots;  which,  being  put  up  to  auction  at  the 
minimum  price,  would  fetch  whatever  competition  should  de- 
termine. \  ery  soon,  however,  if  the  upset  price  of  men 
richer  lots  had  been  high  enough,  the  poorer  lots,  which  had 
been  neglected,  would  acquire,  from  circumstances  of  position* 
from  the  neighbourhood  of  roads  and  markets,  from  competi- 
tion for  the  use  of  land  on  other  accounts  than  on  account  of 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  301 

superior  natural  fertility,  a  value  equal  to  that  of  the  richer 
lots  when  they  belonged  to  the  desert.  By  then,  buyers  would 
apply  for  those  poorer  lots  at  the  minimum  price;  and  they 
would  be  put  up  to  auction,  fetching  the  upset  price,  or  what- 
ever competition  might  determine. 

In  all  cases  there  would  be,  though  a  general,  still  an  un- 
erring guide,  by  which  to  avoid  requiring  too  high  a  price  ; 
namely,  the  rates  of  profit  and  wagea  in  the  colony.  If  these 
should  be  falling,  and  it  should  be  seen  that  the  fall  arose  from 
the  competition  of  capital  with  capital,  and  of  labourers  with 
labourers,  then  might  the  government  see  that  the  price  re- 
quired was  too  high.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  were  seen  that  the 
fall  arose  from  the  less  productiveness  of  capital  and  labour,  in 
consequence  of  less  skill  in  the  application  of  capital  and 
labour,  in  consequence  of  the  weakness  arising  from  greater 
dispersion,  then  it  would  be  plain  that  the  price  of  new  land 
was  not  high  enough.  The  most  ignorant  government  could 
hardly  fail  to  distinguish  between  these  two  mischievous  altera- 
tions in  the  proportion  among  the  elements  of  production  ;  be- 
tween these  two  opposite  causes  of  a  fall  in  the  rates  of  profits 
and  wages. 

Though  it  appear  difficult  to  say  which  would  be  wrorse,  so 
excessively  high  a  price  as  should  inflict  on  the  colony  the  evils 
of  an  old  country,  or  so  excessively  low  a  price  as,  along  with 
perfect  liberty  of  appropriation  at  that  very  low  price,  would 
scatter  the  people  so  as  to  render  them  poor  and  barbarous ; 
although  there  be  little  room  to  choose  between  these  two  ways 
of  stopping  colonization,  still  on  one  ground  it  would  appear 
better  to  make  the  upset  price  too  low  rather  than  too  high.  If 
it  were  made  too  high,  it  could  not  be  reduced  without  injus- 
tice to  those  who  had  paid  the  highest  price  ;  but  if  it  were  too 
low,  it  might  be  raised,  not  only  without  injustice  to  previous 
buyers,  but  with  great  advantage  to  them.  If  the  price  were 
too  high,  and  were  gradually  lowered  down  to  the  golden  mean, 
there  would  be  mischievous  fluctuations  in  the  value  of  land  : 
if  the  price,  being  too  low,  were  gradually  raised  up  to  the 
golden  mean,  there  would  be  a  constant  increase,  but  no  fluc- 
tuation, in  the  value  of  land.  An  important  rule,  therefore,  for 
getting  at  the  best  price,  is  to  begin  with  a  price  obviously  too 
low  ;  taking  care,  however,  that  it  be  not  so  low  as  to  defeat 
all  the  objects  with  which  any  price  is  required.* 

*  The  English  government  makes  five  shillings  per  acre  the  upset  price  of 
waste  land  in  New  South  Wales  and  Van  Dieman's  Land.  With  perfect  lib- 
erty of  appropriation  at  this  price,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  new  plan,  in- 
stead of  checking,  will  not  rather  promote  the  appropriation  of  more  land  than 
is  good  for  the  whole  society.  In  those  colonies,  the  caution  of  the  local  gov- 
ernments in  the  disposal  of  new  land,  if  that  may  be  termed  caution  which  had 


302  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

6.  When  the  fund  for  removing  people  is  provided  by  the 
mother-country,  the  difference  between  the  cost  of  a  short  and 
a  long  passage  naturally  directs  the  stream  of  emigration  to 
the  colonies  which  are  nearest ;  but  if  an  immigration  fund 
were  provided  by  the  sale  of  colonial  land  at  the  proper  price, 
colonies  at  a  great  distance  from  their  mother-country  would 
be  as  well  supplied  with  labour  as  those  which  were  less  dis- 
tant. In  that  case,  the  only  effect  of  the  difference  between 
the  cost  of  a  short  and  a  long  passage,  would  be  a  difference, 
not  in  the  manner,  but  in  the  rapidity,  of  colonization.  For 
instance,  supposing  the  cost  of  passage  from  England  to  Canada 
to  be  11. ,  and  from  England  to  Australia  to  be  1?/.,  and  that 
the  price  of  new  land  in  both  colonies  were  1/.  per  acre,  the 
sale  of  100  acres  in  Canada  would  provide  for  the  passage  of 
14  immigrants,  while  the  sale  of  100  acres  in  Australia  would 
provide  for  the  passage  of  all  but  6  immigrants.  A  dif- 
ferent proportion,  then,  between  land  and  people,  would  exist  in 
these  two  colonies.  But  if  the  price  of  1/.  per  acre,  with  11. 
for  the  cost  of  passage,  should  give  the  right  proportion  be- 
tween land  and  people,  then  it  would  be  clear  that,  with  1?/. 
for  the  cost  of  passage,  1/.  per  acre  was  too  low  a  price  for 
new  land.  In  order  that  there  should  be,  in  the  two  colonies, 
one  proportion  between  land  and  people,  it  would  be  necessary 
either  to  reduce  the  price  of  new  land  in  Canada,  so  that  for 
each  100  acres  sold  there  should  be  only  6  immigrants,  or  to 
raise  the  price  of  new  land  in  Australia,  so  that  there  should  be 
14  immigrants  for  each  100  acres  sold.  We  are  to  presume, 
that  in  both  cases  the  price  of  land  would  be  such  as  to  main- 
tain a  due  proportion  between  land  and  people.  If  so,  though 
the  price  of  land  would  be  higher  in  the  more  distant  colony, 
that  colony  would  be  as  well  supplied  with  labour  as  the  nearer 
colony,  as  well  supplied,  that  is,  in  proportion  to  the  demand 
for  labour;  colonization  would  go  on  as  well  as  in  the  nearer 
colony;  and  the  only  difference  would  be,  as  the  result  of 
greater  distanec  and  greater  cost  <>f  passage,  that  the  waste 
land  of  the  distant  colony  would  not  be  bought  and  cultivated 
quite  so  rapidly  as  that  of  the  nearer  colony. 

This  difference,  however,  would  not  be  inevitable  in  all  cases. 
C:i-  s  mighl  happen,  in  which  colonization  should  proceed  as 
rapidly  in  the  more  distant,  colony  as  in  the  nearer  one.  This 
would   happen  if,  the  land  of  the  two  colonies  being  of  equal 

a  corrupt  object;  the  exertion  of  their  power  in  withholding  new  land,  so  that 
they  might  exert  their  power  in  granting  new  land  with  advantage  to  their  fiv> 
vonrite*!  ha  i  operated  as  a  restriction  on  the  appropriation  of  new  land.  This 
restriction  ii  re red  by  the  plan  of  selling  at  :\  fixed  price  i"  all  who  apply  ; 

and,  though  ibis  plan  will  put  an  end  t"  injustice,  it  will,  it"  the  price  In'  too 
low,  caube  a  WOTtet  iiiblcad  of  a  better,  proportion  between  land  and  people. 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  303 

natural  fertility,  that  of  the  nearer  colony  were  thickly  wooded, 
and  that  of  the  more  distant  colony  were  already  fit  for  cultiva- 
tion ;  as  is  actually  the  case  with  respect  to  Canada  and  Aus- 
tralia. If  waste  land  were  sold  at  the  proper  price  in  both 
colonies,  a  higher  price  being  required  for  the  land  which,  being 
clear  of  timber,  was  more  valuable,  then  what  the  more  dis- 
tant colony  should  save,  in  consequence  of  her  land  being  clear 
by  nature,  would  go  to  swell  her  immigration  fund.  The  differ- 
ence might  be  so  great  as  that  the  more  distant  colony  should 
have  a  greater  immigration  fund,  and  a  stronger  power  of 
attraction,  than  the  nearer  colony. 

7.  Another  part  of  the  proposal  of  the  Colonization  Society 
remains  to  be  examined.  Supposing  the  money  obtained  by 
the  sale  of  land  to  be  spent  on  immigration,  this  fund  ought, 
clearly,  to  be  spent  in  the  most  economical  way  ;  in  the  way 
by  which  the  good  to  be  obtained  by  that  outlay  should  be  as 
great  as  possible.  If  the  object  were  to  procure,  at  the  least 
cost,  the  greatest  amount  of  labour  for  immediate  employment, 
it  would  appear,  at  first  sight,  that  the  immigrants  brought  to 
the  colony  ought  to  be,  all  of  them,  males  in  the  prime  of  life. 
But  it  is  only  at  first  sight  that  this  can  appear ;  because  on 
reflection  it  will  be  seen,  that  two  men  having  to  perform  each 
for  himself  all  the  offices  that  women  usually  perform  for  men  ; 
to  cook  his  own  victuals,  to  mend  his  own  clothes,  to  make  his 
own  bed,  to  play  the  woman's  part  at  home  as  well  as  the  man's 
part  in  the  field  or  workshop;  it  will  be  seen,  I  say,  that  two 
men,  each  of  whom  should  be  obliged  so  to  divide  his  labour 
between  household  cares  and  the  work  of  production,  would 
produce  less  than  one  man  giving  the  whole  of  his  lime,  atten- 
tion, and  labour,  to  the  work  of  production.  If  the  two  men 
should  combine  their  labour  and  divide  their  employments,  one 
occupying  himself  solely  with  household  cares  for  both,  and 
the  other  solely  with  earning  wages  for  both,  then  might  the 
produce  of  their  united  labour  be  as  great  as  that  of  one 
married  man  ;  but  in  no  case  could  it  be  more.  In  new 
colonies,  men  have  often  made  this  unnatural  arrangement  \ 
because  all  modern  colonies,  at  least,  have  been  founded  by  a 
number  of  men  iireatly  exceeding  the  number  of  women  who 
accompanied  them.  We  need  not  stop  to  look  at  the  moral 
evils  of  this  excess  of  males.  Economically  speaking,  it  seems 
quite  plain,  the  poor  immigrants  brought  to  a  colony  by  the 
purchase-money  of  waste  land,  ought  to  be  men  and  women  in 
equal  numbers  ;  and  if  married,  so  much  the  better. 

If  they  were  old  people  their  labour  would  be  of  little  value 
to  the  colony  ;  not  only  because  it  would  soon  be  at  an  end  ; 
but  also  because  they  would  be  weak,  and  because  they  would 
not  readily  turn  their  hands  to  new  employments,  to  employ- 


304  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

merits  very  often  quite  different  from  those  in  which  they  had 
worked  from  their  childhood  to  old  age.  In  order  that  the  poor 
immigrants  brought  to  a  colony  should  be  as  valuable  as  pos- 
sible, they  ought  to  be  young  people,  whose  powers  of  labour 
would  last  as  long  as  possible,  and  who  would  readily  turn  their 
hands  to  new  kinds  of  work. 

But  would  there  be  any  objection  to  a  mixture  of  children  ? 
To  this  there  would  be  four  objections.  First,  if  the  children 
were  the  offspring  of  grown-up  immigrants,  it  would  follow  that 
the  latter  were  not  of  the  best  age  ;  that  if  old  enough  to  have 
children,  they  were  too  old  to  come  under  the  description  of 
the  most  valuable  labourers.  Secondly, children  are  less  fit  than 
old  people,  even,  to  undergo  the  confinement  and  other  troubles 
of  a  long  sea  voyage.*  Thirdly,  when  children  first  reach  a 
colony,  they  necessarily  incumber  somebody.  Fourthly,  they 
cannot  for  some  time  be  of  any  use  aslabourers:  they  cannot  pro- 
duce capital  wherewith  to  attract  and  employ  other  labourers. 
To  whatever  extent,  then,  the  colonial  fund  should  be  employed 
in  bringing  children,  instead  of  grown-up  people,  the  value  re- 
ceived by  the  colony  for  its  outlay  would  be  less  than  need  be. 
By  bringing  none  but  young  grown-up  persons,  the  maximum 
of  value  would  be  obtained  for  any  given  outlay. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  greatest  quantity  of  labour  would  be 
obtained  more  easily  than  a  less  quantity.  The  natural  time  of 
marriage  is  a  time  of  change,  when  two  persons,  just  united  for 
life,  must,  nearly  always,  seek  a  new  home.  The  natural  time 
of  marriage  too  is  one,  when  the  mind  is  most  disposed  to  hope, 
to  ambition,  to  undertakings  which  require  decision  and  energy 
of  purpose.  Marriage  produces  greater  anxiety  for  the  future, 
and  a  very  strong  desire  to  be  belter  off  in  the  world  for  the 

*  To  be  convinced  of  this,  let  any  one  visit  a  ship  full  of  emigrants,  in  the 
Thames  or  the  .Mersey,  bound  to  Canada,  lie  will  find  those  who  are  parents 
troubled  and  anxious,  fearful  of  accidents  to  their  children,  restless,  starting  at 
every  noise  ;  if  paupers,  glad  to  see  their  little  ones  Btuffing  themselves  with 
the  ship's  rations,  dainties  to  them,  poor  little  w  retches-,  who  have  plenty  to  eat 
for  the  first  time  in  their  lives;  if  paupers,  looking  back  without  affection,  and 
with  hope  to  the  future,  but,  being  parents,  with  apprel  I  in  the  dis- 

tant and  unknown  land  of  promise,  the  chiidn  n  Bhotild  Buffer  more  than  they 
red  at  home,  lie  will  see  the  children,  if  paupers, delighted  at  meal 
mg  with  greasj  lips,  their  •  ng  over  the  butcher's  meat, 

but,  at  other  times,  sick  of  the  confinement,  tired  of  having  nothing  to  do, 
wanting  a  play-place,   always  in  the  Way,  driven   from  pillar  to  post,  fretful, 
quarrelsome,  thoroughly  unhappy,  and  exposed  to  serious  accidents.     Those 
.nit.-,  on  the  contrary,  who  are  n  nts  nor  children,  young  men 

and  women  without   any  incumbrance;  these  be  will  Gnd  quite  at  their  ewe, 
ing  the   luxurj  ol  idleness,  pleased  with  the  noveltj  ol  their  situation, 'in 
a  state  ol  p  excitement,  building  castles  in  the  air,  glorying  in  the 

prospect  ol  independence,  thanking  God  thai  they  are  still  without  children, 
and  il  In-  knows  how  to  make  them  apeak  out,  delighted  to  talk  of  the  new 
country,  in  which,  as  they  have  heard)  children,  instead  of  being  a  burthen, 
are  the  greatest  of  blebsings. 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  305 

sake  of  expected  offspring.  Of  what  class  are  composed  those 
numerous  streams  of  emigrants,  which  flow  continually  from 
the  eastern  to  the  outside  of  the  western  states  of  America,  by 
channels  longer  and  rougher  than  the  sea-way  from  England 
to  the  eastern  states  1  Not  of  single  men,  nor  of  old  people, 
nor  of  middle-aged  parents  dragging  children  along  with  them, 
but,  for  the  most  part,  of  young  couples,  just  married,  seeking 
a  new  home,  fondly  assisting  and  encouraging  each  other, 
strong  in  health  and  spirits  ;  not  driven  from  their  birth-place 
by  fear  of  want,  but  attracted  to  a  new  place  by  the  love  of 
independence,  by  a  sentiment  of  ambition,  and  most  of  all,  per- 
haps, by  anxiety  for  the  welfare  of  children  to  come.  This, 
then,  is  the  class  of  people  that  would  be  most  easily  attracted 
to  a  colony  by  high  wages  and  still  better  prospects.  Others 
would  be  willing  to  come  if,  the  old  country  co-operating  with 
the  colony,  all  in  the  old  country  were  well  informed  of  the 
advantages  of  emigration  :  but  these  would  be  the  most  willing ; 
these  would  be,  not  merely  willing,  but  anxious  to  come. 

Of  these,  however,  there  might  not  exist  in  an  old  country  a 
sufficient  number  to  meet  the  colonial  demand  for  labour. 
For  example,  if  the  United  States  should  propose  to  lay  out 
1,400,000/.  a  year  in  bringing  young  couples  from  Ireland,  this 
would  produce  a  demand  for  100,000  young  Irish  couples ; 
but  in  Ireland  there  are  not  so  many  as  100,000  couples  of  the 
same  age.  There  are  not,  perhaps  in  Ireland,  more  than 
60,000  grown  up  young  couples  who  were  born  in  the  same 
year.  As  the  constant  emigration  of  all,  or  maybe  of  half 
the  couples,  who  every  year  reach  the  age  of  puberty,  must 
very  soon  depopulate  any  country,  we  may  be  sure  that  a  por- 
tion only  of  this  class  would  ever  be  disposed  to  emigrate. 
Whenever  a  number  sufficient  to  meet  the  colonial  demand 
for  labour  should  not  be  disposed  to  emigrate,  it  would  be  right 
to  offer  a  passage  cost  free  to  couples  older  by  one,  two,  or 
three  years,  but  always  giving  a  preference  to  those  who  had 
most  lately  reached  the  age  of  puberty.  Indeed,  as  to  those 
of  the  best  possible  age,  we  can  only  say  that  it  would  be  right 
to  give  them  a  preference. 

Supposing  all  the  people  brought  to  the  colony  with  the  pur- 
chase-money of  waste  land  to  be  young  men  and  women,  in 
equal  numbers,  let  us  see  what  the  effect  would  be  on  the 
colonial  population.  At  the  end  of  twenty  years  after  the 
foundation  of  Virginia,  the  number  of  colonists  wTas  about 
1800  ;  though,  during  the  twenty  years,  near  20,000  persons 
had  reached  the  settlement.  This  rapid  decrease  of  popula- 
tion was,  as  I  have  endeavoured  to  show  elsewhere,*  owing 

*  See  Note  X 

39 


308  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

chiefly  to  the  misery  of  the  colonists  ;  but  it  was  partly  owing, 
also,  to  this  ;  that  of  the  20,000  immigrants  a  very  small  pro- 
portion only  consisted  of  females.  So  that,  even  if  the  colony 
had  prospered  from  the  beginning,  the  number  of  colonists 
would  probably  have  been  less  at  the  end  of  twenty  years 
than  the  number  of  immigrants  during  that  period.  The  set- 
tlement of  New  South  Wales  has  so  far  prospered  from  the 
beginning,  that  no  one  has  ever  found  it  difficult  to  maintain  a 
family :  yet  the  population  of  the  colony  is  nothing  like  as  great 
as  the  number  of  immigrants.  But  why  ?  simply  because,  of 
those  persons,  by  far  the  greater  number  were  men,  and  that, 
of  the  women,  who  composed  the  smaller  number,  many  were 
past  the  age  of  child-bearing.  Had  those  persons  consisted  of 
men  and  women  in  equal  proportions,  but  of  a  middle  age,  the 
population  of  the  colony  might  not  have  been  much  greater 
than  it  is:  but  if  they  had  consisted  entirely  of  young  couples, 
who  had  just  reached  the  age  of  puberty,  the  population  of  the 
colony  would  have  advanced  with  surprising  rapidity.  Reck- 
oning the  number  of  immigrants  in  each  year  at  '2,000,  there 
seem  to  be  grounds  for  believing*  that,  if  all  these  had  been 
young  couples  just  arrived  at  the  age  of  puberty,  the  popula- 
tion of  the  colony  would  by  this  time  have  amounted  to  nearly 
500,000,  instead  of  its  actual  amount,  less  than  50,000 ;  that 
the  progress  of  population  and,  we  may  add,  of  colonization, 
would  have  been  ten  times  as  great  as  it  has  been,  with  the 
same  outlay  for  bringing  people  to  the  colony.  At  present, 
too,  the  proportion  of  young  people  in  New  South  Wales  is 
rather  under  than  over  the  usual  rate  ;  whereas,  in  the  sup- 
posed case,  the  proportion  of  young  people  would  have  been 
very  much  greater  than  it  has  ever  been  in  any  human  society. 
According,  of  course,  to  this  great  proportion  of  young  people 
would  have  been  the  prospect  of  future  increase.  If  all  the 
people  who  have  removed  from  Europe  to  America  had  been 
young  couples,  just  arrived  at  the  age  of  puberty,  slavery  in 
North  America  must  long  since  have  died  a  natural  death : 
no  part  of  North  America,  no  part  of  South  America,!  perhaps, 
would  have  been  open  for  colonization.  Considering  what 
must,  almost  inevitably,  hare  happened  in  this  case,  it  seems 
hard  to  overrate  the  advantages  within  reach  of  the  United 

*  Among  these  grounds  are  the  very  healthy  climate  "I'  New  South  Wales, 
ami  the  great  fecundity  of  women  in  that  country.     Mr.  Cunningham 
thai  in  tin'   settlement  of  I3athurst  Plains,  a  new  colony,  west  of  the  Blue 

M   i     ttains,  "ills   one  natural  death  occurred  in  twelve  years. 

t  As  it  is,  there  arc   some    iv. i   DIM  for  expecting   thai  South  America,  where 

the  greatest  paint  have  been  taken  to  disperse  the  people,  and  render  them  aa 
barbarous  as  the  Indiana,  will  be  colonized  over  again  bj  emigrants  fin 

north,  who,  kc|rt  together  by  the  density  of  the  natural  forest,  have  preserved 
the  power  of  civilization. 


THE    ART    OP    COLONIZATION.  307 

States,  by  means  of  colonizing  their  waste  territory  in  the  way 
proposed. 

In  any  colony,  the  immediate  effect  of  selecting  young 
couples  for  immigration  would  be  to  diminish  very  much  the 
ordinary  cost  of  adding  to  the  population  of  the  colony.  The 
passage  of  young  couples  would  not  cost  more  than  that  of  any 
other  class,  or  of  all  classes  mixed  ;  but,  along  with  the  young 
couples,  the  colony  would  obtain,  at  the  ordinary  cost,  the  greatest 
possible  germ  of  future  increase.  The  settlers  in  New  South 
Wales  who,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  have  made  that  colony 
to  swarm  with  sheep,  did  not  import  lambs  or  old  sheep ;  still  less 
did  they  import  a  large  proportion  of  rams.  They  have  imported 
altogether  a  very  small  number  of  sheep,  compared  with  the 
vast  number  now  in  the  colony.  Their  object  was  the  produc- 
tion in  the  colony  of  the  greatest  number  of  sheep  by  the  im- 
portation of  the  least  number,  or,  in  other  words,  at  the  least 
cost ;  and  this  object  they  accomplished  by  selecting  for  im- 
portation those  animals,  which,  on  account  of  their  sex  and  age, 
were  fit  to  produce  the  greatest  number  of  young  in  the 
shortest  time.  If  a  like  selection  were  made  of  the  persons 
to  be  brought  to  a  colony  with  the  purchase-money  of  waste 
land,  the  land  bought,  it  is  evident,  would  become  as  valuable 
as  it  could  ever  become,  much  more  quickly  than  if  the  immi- 
grants should  be  a  mixture  of  persons  of  all  ages.  In  the 
former  case,  not  only  would  the  immigrants  be,  all  of  them,  of 
the  most  valuable  class  as  labourers,  but  they  would  be  of  a 
class  fit  to  produce  the  most  rnpid  increase  of  people  in  the 
colony  ;  to  create,  as  soon  as  possible,  in  places  now  desert,  a 
demand  for  food,  for  the  raw  materials  of  manufactures,  for 
accommodation  land,  and  for  building-ground.  The  buyer  of 
new  land,  therefore,  would  have  his  purchase-money  laid  out 
for  him  in  the  way  best  of  all  calculated  to  be  of  service  to  him. 
It  would  be  well  to  consider  this,  in  seeking  to  determine  the 
proper  price  for  new  land,  of  which  the  purchase-money  was 
to  be  thus  laid  out  for  the  greatest  advantage  of  the  purchaser. 

It  must  be  seen,  further,  that  if  the  immigration  fund  were 
laid  out  in  this  way,  the  progressive  increase  of  that  fund,  by 
means  of  the  increase  of  people  wanting  land,  would  be  much 
more  rapid  than  if  the  immigrants  brought  to  the  colony  were 
of  all  ages  mixed.  By  adopting  this  mode  of  immigration,  all 
the  means  of  colonization  would  be  used  with  their  greatest 
possible  effect.* 

*  By  the  importunity  of  some  members  of  the  Colonization  Society,  the  Eng- 
lish governpaent  was  induced  to  adopt  this  principle  of  colonization.  While 
their  board  of  emigration  was  sitting  in  Downing-street,  a  mere  name  for  want 
of  funds,  they  were  persuaded  to  devote  the  money  obtained  by  the  sale  of 
waste  land  in  New  South  Wales  and  Van  Dieman's  Land  to  the  sending  of  poor 


30S  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

The  moral  advantages  of  such  a  selection  of  immigrants 
would  not  be  few.  Each  female  would  have  a  special  protec- 
tor from  the  moment  of  her  departure  from  home.  No  man 
would  have  any  excuse  for  dissolute  habits.  All  the  evils, 
which  have  so  often  sprung  from  a  disproportion  between  the 
sexes,  would  be  avoided.  Every  pair  of  immigrants  would 
have  the  strongest  motives  for  industry,  steadiness,  and  thrift. 
In  a  colony  thus  peopled,  there  would  scarcely  ever  be  any 
single  men  or  single  women  :  nearly  the  whole  population 
wTould  consist  of  married  men  and  women,  boys,  and  girls,  and 
children.  For  many  years,  the  proportion  of  children  to  grown- 
up people  would  be  greater  than  was  ever  known  since  Shem, 
Ham,  and  Japhet  were  surrounded  by  their  little  ones.  The 
colony  would  be  an  immense  nursery,  and,  all  being  at  ease 
without  being  scattered,  would  offer  the  finest  opportunity  that 
ever  occurred,  to  see  what  may  be  done  for  society  by  univer- 
sal education.  That  must  be  a  narrow  breast  in  which  the  last 
consideration  does  not  raise  some  generous  emotion. 

This  is  the  way  in  which  the  Colonization  Society  proposed 

females  to  those  colonies.     It  was  high  time  to  do  something  towards  correct- 
ing the  disproportion  between  the  sexes  which  exists  in  those  colonies.     Several 
ship  loads  of  poor  females  have,  in  this  way,  been  provided  with  a  passage  to 
the  penal  settlements.     But  with  what  result  I     The  number  of  female  immi- 
grants is  not,  by  any  means,  sufficient  to  cause  an  equal  proportion  between  the 
sexes.     So  long  as  the  proportion   shall  remain  unequal,  all  females,  not  pro- 
tected by  a  higher  station,  must  be  subject  to  a  kind  of  persecution  which  one  need 
not  describe.     It  is  enough  to   say,  that  the  government,  sending  so  few,  has 
sent  a  certain  number  of  women  from  England  to  become  prostitutes  in  Austra- 
lia.    While  the  government  was  sending  these  women,  it  sent,  side-by-sidc  with 
tbese  women,  though  not  in  the  same  ships,  a  greater  number  of  men ;  as  if 
determined  to  miss  the  object  with  which  the  women  were  sent.     At  first,  the 
colonial  office  declared  in  print,  that  the  passage  of  the  women  was  to  be  paid 
for  with  the  money  obtained  by  selling  waste  land.     This  was  acknowledging 
a  new  and  important  principle.     Whether  alarmed  at  finding  themselves  con- 
nected with  something  new  and  important,  something  not  common-place,  some- 
thing out  of  the  routine  of  office;   or  whether  they  discovered  that  the  fund  to 
be  obtained  by  selling  waste  land  would  be  very  handy  for  their  own  private 
purposes;  with  what  motive  I  know  nut  ;  but  by  a  new  regulation  of  the  colo- 
nial office,  it  is  declared  that  the  cost  of  Bending  women  to  the  penal  settle- 
ments will  be  defrayed  out  of  the  trait.     Tims  the  fund  obtained  by 
the  sali'  of  waste  land  l>:is  Itch  carried  to  the  governor's  account  ;  and  the  prin- 
ciple of  using  that  fund  foT  bringing  labour  to  the  colony  has  been  abandoned. 
Mr.  Wilmol  Horton  used  to  contend,  that  whatever  "  the  crown" might  obtain 
by  the  sale  of  waste  land  was  the  property  of  "the  crown  •"  and  that  touching 
the  dii  posal  of  it,  no  one  had  any  business  to  inquire,  any  more  than  about  the 
disposal  oi  secret  service  money  voted  by  parliament.     The  change  has  taken 
place'  since  Lord  Bowick,  who  in   parliament  thought  lit  to  acknowledge  the 
sit'.im  -  •  f  the  Colonization  Society,  gave  up  the  "Australian  department"  of 
the  colonial  office  to  his  colli  ague  Mr,  Hay  ;  once  the  colleague  of  Mr.  Morton, 
and  always,  it  I  am  nol  greatly  mistaken!  one  of  that  party  whom  the  Standard 
paper  calls  "  tin-  Peel  and  Dawson  crew."     11  Air.  Hay  he  the  author  of 
this  change,  Ins  motives  for  bringing  it  about  may,  perhaps,  he  discovered  in  a 
com                ■  printed  in  the  Appendix,  No.  3. 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  309 

that  the  purchase-money  of  waste  land  should  be  employed. 
The  sum  of  the  measures  suggested  by  them,  having  regard  to 
the  objects  and  means  of  the  colonies  alone,  is  :  The  sale  of  all 
waste  land  by  public  auction  at  a  fixed  upset  price,  with  the 
most  perfect  liberty  of  appropriation  at  that  price  :  and  the 
employment  of  the  whole  of  the  fund  so  obtained  in  bringing 
people  to  the  colony  ;  a  preference  being  always  given  to  young 
couples  who  have  just  reached  the  age  of  puberty.  How  the 
mother  country,  the  country,  that  is,  from  which  the  immigrants 
should  come,  might  usefully  co-operate  with  the  colony,  re- 
mains to  be  considered. 

CO-OPERATION  OF  THE  MOTHER  COUNTRY. 

The  subject  has  been  thus  divided  for  two  reasons ;  first, 
because,  as  observed  already,  it  was  more  convenient  to  take 
a  colonial  view  of  means  which  exist  in  the  colony  ;  secondly, 
in  order  to  show  clearly,  without  any  long  explanation,  that 
under  a  good  system  of  colonization,  by  whatever  government 
administered,  people  would  be  drawn  to  the  colony,  not  driven 
from  the  mother  country.  By  examining  the  subject  in  this 
way,  any  one  may  see  distinctly  that  the  advantage  of  those 
who  shall  remove  from  the  mother  country  is  a  necessary  con- 
dition of  emigration  ;  that  emigration  to  any  considerable  ex- 
tent could  not  take  place  without  benefit  to  the  emigrants. 
This,  however,  is  not  the  general  impression  in  England.  A 
different  impression  has  been  made  on  the  English  vulgar,  high 
and  low.  Never  having  heard  of  emigration,  save,  according 
to  Mr.  Wilmot  Horton's  views,  as  a  means  of  relief  from  the 
pressure  of  the  poor's-rate,  they  have  supposed  that,  whether 
or  not  the  object  was  attained,  the  poor  emigrants  must  be 
driven  away  for  the  good  of  those  who  should  remain  behind, 
instead  of  being  drawn  away  for  their  own  good.  This  im- 
pression, which  renders  the  word  emigration  distasteful  to  the 
English,  seems  to  have  been  caused  by  three  circumstances  in 
particular. 

First.  By  various  attempts  to  raise  in  the  mother  country  a 
fund  for  pauper  emigration,  not  the  good  of  the  emigrants,  but 
that  of  the  subscribers  to  the  fund,  was  made  prominent.  Thus, 
when  the  government  advanced  60,000/.  for  sending  some  poor 
people  to  Canada,  it  was  supposed  that  the  government  wished 
to  get  rid  of  those  people,  not  for  their  sake,  but  for  the  sake 
of  those  to  whom  the  people  were  a  burthen.  So  also,  when 
Lord  Howick  brought  a  bill  into  parliament  for  enabling 
parishes  to  raise  an  emigration  fund  by  mortgaging  their 
poor's-rate,  the  advantage,  not  of  the  paupers,  but  of  the  rate- 
payers, was  supposed  to  be  his  object.     If  the  money  employed 


310 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 


in  the  first  case  had  been  provided  under  the  name  of  a  grant 
to  Upper  Canada,  for  supplying  that  colony  with  labour,  the 
English  government  would  have  appeared  to  consult,  not  its 
own  advantage,  but  that  of  the  colony  ;  and  the  advantage  of 
the  poor  emigrants,  the  certainty  of  their  obtaining  high  wages, 
would  have  been  set  in  a  prominent  light :  the  low  and  high 
vulgar  would  have  seen  that  labour  was  wanted  in  the  colony: 
and  thus  it  would  have  appeared,  not  that  the  emigrants  were 
driven  from  home,  but  that  they  were  invited  to  another  place. 
As  it  was,  the  simple  truth,  that  when,  in  the  natural  progress 
of  colonization,  people  quit  their  birth-place,  they  must  neces- 
sarily be  invited  by  the  prospect  of  advantage  to  themselves ; 
this  evident  truth  was  kept  out  of  view ;  and  in  its  room  an 
impression  wras  made  that  the  poor  emigrants  might  suffer  by 
their  removal. 

Secondly.  Under  the  experiments  in  pauper  emigration  made 
by  the  English  government,  poor  emigrants  have  suffered  by 
their  removal.  To  say  nothing  of  what  happened  to  the  poor 
people  whom  the  English  government  sent  to  South  Africa, 
the  poor  people  whom  they  sent  to  Canada  suffered  great 
privations  and  hardships.  They  consisted  of  families,  men, 
women,  and  swarms  of  children  ;  and,  what  is  more  important, 
instead  of  being  allowed  to  proceed  in  a  natural  course,  that  is, 
to  remain  in  the  settled  parts  of  the  colony,  working  for  wages, 
getting  assistance  when  required  from  their  employers  and 
neighbours,  and  learning  by  degrees  how  to  settle  in  the  forest; 
instead  of  this,  they  were  planted  at  once  beyond  the  settled 
parts  of  the  colony,  in  the  midst  of  the  forest,  far  apart  from 
each  other,  without  experience,  assistance,  or  advice  ;  and  even 
without  houses  in  which  to  shelter  their  families.  Those  Eng- 
lish paupers,  becoming  suddenly  colonial  landlords,  not  hard- 
ened to  the  climate,  placed  on  new  land  where  ague  generally 
prevails,  not  accustomed  to  use  the  hatchet,  which  is  the  first 
tool  used  by  a  settler  ;  thus  placed,  like  fish  out  of  water,  they 
suffered  from  heat,  cold,  and  wet,  from  sickness,  from  wounds, 
and  finally  from  a  sentiment  of  despair.  Not  a  tew  of  the 
children  died.  The  misery  which  these  poor  people  suffered, 
though  great  pains  were  taken  to  conceal  it  by  the  author  of 
the  experiment,  became  known  in  England  ;  and  thus  a  well- 
founded  prejudice  was  created  against  emigration;  well- 
founded,  that  is,  as  against  this  sort  of  emigration.4  Uut  along 
with  a  dislike;  to  this  sort  of  emigration,  there  arose,  as  might 
have  been  expected,  a  dislike  to  all  emigration. 

•  The  absurdity  of  Mr.  Wilmot  Horton'a  Bcheme  for  locating  English 
pauper*  in  the  forest    of  Canada  Was  exposed  by  thi   I  ition  Society  :  and 

in  the  emigration  bill  which  Lord  Howies  soon  afterward  brought  in  parlia- 
ment, ili«-  uatural  mode  of  pauper  emigration  was  adopted ;  that  ol  alio 

poor  labourers  to  be  attracted  by  tho  high  wages  of  the  colony. 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  311 

Thirdly.  The  English  government  goes  out  of  its  way  to 
strengthen  in  the  common  people  their  natural  sense  of  the 
evils  of  emigration.  As  it  is  painful  to  quit  for  ever  the  country 
of  one's  birth  and  one's  affections,  so  is  emigration  necessarily 
attended  with  some  evil;  but  this  evil,  it  is  plain,  will  never  be 
incurred  voluntarily,  that  is,  if  there  be  no  sort  of  interference 
by  government,  without  so  much   good  as  turns  the  scale  in 
favour   of  emigration.      The    balance  of   the   account  must 
necessarily  be  in  favour  of  the  voluntary  emigrant.     But  what 
says  the    English   government?     While  Lord   Ho  wick  was 
vainly  begging  the  House  of  Commons  to  pass  his  emigration 
bill,  imploring  them  to  mend  the  condition  of  the  peasantry  in 
the  south  of  England,  to  prevent  another  insurrection  of  that 
class  by  enabling  some  of  them  to  remove  to  the  colonies  ;  at 
this  very  time,  the  judges  at  Winchester,  and  elsewhere,  ad- 
dressed language  to  the  following  effectto  peasants  convicted  of 
rioting  for  better  wages : — Unhappy  men  !  your  crime  is  enor- 
mous, and  your  punishment  must  be  great.  The  sentence  of  the 
law  is,  that  you  be  transported  beyond  seas  for  the  term  of  your 
natural  lives.  You  are  going  to  a  far  country,  to  a  country  so  far 
off",  that  neither  will  you  ever  hear  of  those  whom  you  love  best, 
nor  will  they  ever  hear  of  you.     Though  the  law  does  not  per- 
mit me  to  pass  on  some  of  you  the  sentence  of  transportation 
for  life,  still  I  can  assure  such  of  you,  that  you  will  never  be 
able  to  return.     You  may  have  heard,  from  wicked  men  like 
yourselves,  that  it  is  a  fine  country  ;  and  you  may  expect  to  do 
well  there.     But  oh,  unhappy  prisoners  !  you  will  suffer  all  the 
pain  of  being  for  ever  banished  from  the  country  of  your  birth 
and  your  affections.     May  God,  in  his  mercy,  give  you  forti- 
tude to  bear  so  dreadful  a  punishment,  which,  however,  is  no 
more  than  your  atrocious  crime  deserves. — Hereupon,  some  of 
the  prisoners,  single  men,  who  had,  indeed,  heard  that  New 
South  Wales  is  a  very  fine  country,  and  that  they  could  hardly 
fail  to  do  well  there  ;  these  put  their  tongues  into  their  cheeks, 
and  set  the  judge  at  defiance.     But  the  wives  and  children  of 
the  others  shed  tears,  shrieked,  or  fainted ;  and  all  through 
those   rural   districts  there   was    weeping  and   lamentation. 
These  are  the    districts  in  which,  especially,  it  was  intended 
that  Lord  Howick's  bill  should  be  of  use ;  districts  in  which, 
among  the  class  who  were  to  be  persuaded  to  emigrate,  a  strong 
impression  had  been  made,  that  emigration  is  the  greatest  pun- 
ishment next  to  death.     Are  we,  then,  to  be  surprised  that  the 
English  generally  should  look  upon   every  attempt  by  their 
government  to  promote  emigration  as  an  attempt  to  hurt  the 
emigrants  ?     So  long  as  criminals  shall  be  punished  by  trans- 
portation, there  must  necessarily  exist  in  England  a  strong  pre- 


312  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

judice  against  any  interference  by  the  government  for  promot- 
ing emigration. 

But  why  should  the  government  of  an  old  country  ever  un- 
dertake to  promote  emigration  from  that  country,  when  all  the 
ends,  which  an  old  country  seeks  in  colonization,  may  be 
reached  by  promoting  immigration  to  her  colonies  1  Whether 
the  colony  be  dependent  or  independent,  all  that  the  govern- 
ment of  the  mother  country  has  to  do  at  home  for  promoting 
colonization,  is  to  take  care  that  the  poorer  class  at  home  be 
well  informed  of  the  advantages  of  going  to  a  colony  ;  taking 
care  also  that  the  necessary  evil  of  going  from  home  be  not 
made  to  appear  greater  than  it  is,  through  forcing  people  to 
emigrate  by  way  of  punishment.  It  would  be  very  easy,  in- 
deed, supposing  either  that  there  was  co-operation  between 
the  old  couatry  and  the  colony,  or  that  both  were  under  the 
same  government,  to  keep  the  poorer  class  in  the  old  country 
well  informed  of  the  advantages  of  going  to  a  colony.  The 
great  emigration  from  England  which  took  place  last  year  was 
caused  mainly  by  the  publication  of  letters  from  poor  emigrants 
to  their  friends  in  England.*  But  in  order  that  such  letters 
should  be  published,  it  is  necessary  that  they  should  be  written 
and  received.  Why  not,  in  order  to  promote  the  receipt  of 
such  letters  among  the  poorer  class  in  the  mother  country, 
allow  poor  emigrants,  during  some  years  after  their  arrival  in 
the  colony,  to  send  letters  by  the  post,  but  free  of  postage,  to 
the  friends  whom  they  had  left  behind  ;  just  as,  in  many  coun- 
tries, soldiers  are  allowed  this  privilege  '(  To  such  an  arrange- 
ment there  appears  no  obstacle  that  might  not  be  got  over  with 
very  little  trouble.-)*  In  this  way,  not  only  would  the  neces- 
sary evil  of  going  to  a  colony  be  diminished  ;  that  is,  the  emi- 
grants would  depart  with  the  pleasant  assurance  of  being  able 
to  communicate  with  their  friends  at  home  ;  but  the  poorer 
class  in  the  mother  country  would  always  hear  the  truth  as  to 
the  prospects  of  emigrants  ;  and  not  only  the  truth,  hut  truth 
in  which  they  would  not  suspect  any  falsehood.  The  state- 
ments as  to  the  high  wages  obtainable  in  the  la iglish  colonies, 
lately  published  by  ■  board  of  emigration  sitting  in  Downing- 
strcct,  though  perfectly  true,  have  not  been  received  with  im- 
plicit faith  by  the  harassed   and  therefore   suspicious  class  to 

•  Thousands,  probably,  were  induced  to  emigrate  by  reading  one  publication 
of  this  sort ;  a  collection  of  letters  from  poor  emigrants,  printed  ami  circulated 
by  one  of  the  best  friends  of  the  English  poor,  and  we  may  add  of  the  rich,  Mr. 
Poulett  Scrope. 

t  An  officer  at  the  colonial  port  might  give  to  each  poor  immigrant  a  certifi- 
cate, which  should  authorise  post-masters  throughout  the  colony  to  frank  N itters 
for  the  mother-country  that  were  brought  to  a  pout-office  by  the  bearer  of  the 
certificate. 


THE    ART    OP    COLONIZATION.  313 

whom  they  were  addressed  ;  nor  would  any  statements  made 
by  the  government  ever  obtain  so  much  credit  as  letters  from 
the  emigrants  themselves.  In  this  way,  moreover,  the  attract- 
ive power  of  the  colony  would  be  made  apparent  to  the  high 
vulgar  of  the  mother  country  ;  and  those  preachers  would  be 
silenced  whose  text  is,  "  Dwell  in  the  land,  and  verily  ye  shall 
be  fed." 

With  respect  to  the  mother  country,  two  points  remain  to  be 
examined ;  first,  the  effect  of  the  proposed  selection  of  emi- 
grants in  producing  relief  from  excessive  numbers ;  secondly, 
the  means  by  which  the  overflowing  capital  of  an  old  country 
might  find  secure  and  profitable  employment  through  this  system 
of  colonization. 

First — If  it  be  true  that  125,000  persons  emigrated  from 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland  last  year,  still  this  abstraction  of 
people  has  not  caused  the  least  perceptible  relief  from  exces- 
sive numbers.  That  great  body  of  emigrants  consisted  of  a 
mixture  of  all  classes ;  masters  and  servants,  old  and  young. 
The  poorest  class  was  composed,  in  great  measure  of  families, 
men,  women,  and  children,  for  whom  a  passage  was  provided 
by  their  parishes,  with  a  view  to  get  rid  of  them.  By  the  re- 
moval of  the  children,  nothing  was  taken  from  the  present 
market  of  English  labour ;  nor  indeed  by  the  removal  of  any 
but  workmen.  Of  these  last,  the  number  removed  were  too 
small  for  any  effect  on  wages.  The  only  effect  of  their  re- 
moval was  to  make  room  for  others  quite  ready  to  take  their 
place.  But  if  this  great  body  of  emigrants  had  consisted  en- 
tirely of  workmen  and  their  wives,  it  seems  probable  that  con- 
siderable relief  would  have  been  obtained  from  excessive  num- 
bers ;  that  more  room  would  have  been  made  than  could  have 
been  immediately  filled  by  other  workmen.  The  conscription 
in  France,  during  the  late  war,  did  not,  perhaps,  carry  off  so 
many  workmen,  year  by  year,  in  proportion  to  the  then  popu- 
lation of  France,  as  the  proportion  which  60,000  bears  to 
24,000,000 :  yet  it  certainly  had  the  effect  of  keeping  the  sup- 
ply of  labour  so  much  within  the  demand,  that  the  condition 
of  the  labouring  class  in  France  was,  during  the  war,  very 
comfortable  compared  with  what  it  has  been  since  the  peace. 
One  of  the  causes  of  Napoleon's  great  popularity  was  the  easy 
state  of  the  labouring  class  in  France  during  his  reign :  one  of 
the  causes  of  the  late  revolution  in  France  was  the  uneasy  state 
of  the  working  class  who  effected  that  revolution :  and  the 
miserable  state  of  that  class,  in  the  greater  part  of  France  at 
this  time  leaves  but  small  hope  that  the  revolution  which  they 
effected  will  be  of  any  service  to  them.  In  France,  the  work- 
ing people  now  say,  commonly : — Oh  !  if  we  could  get  back 
Napoleon,  we  should  soon  be  better  off.     "Without  knowing  it, 

40 


314  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

they  want  so  much  war  as  should  again  cause  the  fields  to  be 
tilled  by  women.  If,  for  every  young  man  carried  off  by 
Napoleon's  wars,  a  young  woman  also  had  been  carried  off, 
though  the  immediate  effect  on  the  state  of  the  working  class 
would  have  been  the  same,  the  conscription  would  have  had  a 
more  lasting  effect  on  the  condition  of  the  working  class. 
Millions,  perhaps,  who  have  been  born  in  France  since  1814, 
would  not  have  been  born  there  ;  and  this,  though  many 
would  have  lived,  who  have  been  born  to  die  since  1814, 
if  not  of  hunger,  of  disease  produced  by  all  sorts  of  privations, 
still  the  good  effect  of  the  conscription  might  have  lasted  till 
now.  These  considerations,  will  direct  us  to  a  right  estimate  of 
the  influence,  which  a  proper  selection  of  emigrants  would 
have  on  the  population  of  a  country  like  England. 

It  has  been  reckoned,*  that  in  England  the  number  of  mar- 
riages which  take  place  in  a  year  is  in  the  proportion  of  1  to 
about  134  souls.  Assuming  this  calculation  to  be  right,  and  the 
population  of  England  to  be  14,000,000,  the  yearly  number  of 
marriages  in  England  is  104,477^4.  Whatever  would  be  the 
effect  on  population  of  preventing  all  the  marriages,  would  be 
the  effect  of  removing  all  who  were  about  to  marry.  The  re- 
moval, therefore,  of  about  209,000  persons  every  year  for  a 
few  years  would  very  soon  depopulate  England.  But  this 
effect  would  occur  through  the  removal  of  a  much  smaller  num- 
ber. It  would  occur  by  the  yearly  removal  of  all  who  in  each 
vear  should  reach  the  age  of  puberty.  How  many  persons  in 
England  every  year  reach  the  age  of  puberty  has  never  been 
calculated.  But  it  is  reckoned,  that  the  yearly  births  are,  to 
the  whole  population,  in  the  proportion  of  1  to  about  31. 
Taking  the  yearly  births,  then,  to  be  451,G12ff,  or,  for  round 
numbers,  450,000,  and  assuming  that  not  above  one-third  of 
these,  or  150,000,  reach  the  age  of  puberty,  it  appears,  that 
England  might  soon  be  depopulated  by  the  yearly  abstraction, 
for  some  years,  of  a  number  of  persons  not  much  greater  than 
the  number  who  did  actually  emigrate  last  year.  Supposing 
the  emigration  of  each  of  these  persons  to  cost  7/.,  the  cost  of 
entirely  depopulating  England  would  be  a  yearly  outlay,  for 
some  years,  of  L,Q50,000Z. ;  very  little  more  by  the  year  than 
a  seventh  part  of  the  English  poor's-rate  ;  not  much  more  than 
the  supposed  cost  of  emigration  from  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
during  the  last  year.  But  there  is  a  way  by  which,  with  a  still 
smaller  yearly  outlay,  England  might  be  depopulated:  by 
taking  away  every  year  a  number  of  young  couples  sufficient 
to  reduce  the  whole  number  in  after  yean  :  so  that  the  num- 
ber of  young  couples  would,  in  time,  be  reduced  to  one.     Sup- 

»  8*6  ProfeMOr  M'Culloch1     .  nlinmi  of  the  Wealth 

of  Nation*,  which  is  full  oi  valuable  infor..-.  uibjeet 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  315 

posing  that  this  might  be  effected,  though  not  so  quickly  as  if 
all  were  removed,  by  removing  every  year  half  of  the  young 
couples  who  had  in  that  year  reached  the  age  of  puberty,  then 
might  England  be  depopulated  by  the  yearly  removal  for  some 
years  of  75,000  persons,  at  a  yearly  cost  of  525,000/.  The 
question,  however,  is,  not  how  might  England  be  depopulated, 
but  what  is  the  smallest  proportion  of  young  couples,  whose 
yearly  removal  would  prevent  any  hurtful  increase  of  the  pop- 
ulation of  a  country  like  England  ;  would  put  the  bulk  of  the 
people  at  ease ;  enabling  all  to  marry  when  nature  should 
prompt  them  to  marriage  ;  preventing  the  death  of  many 
through  want ;  and  giving  full  effect  to  the  principle  of  popula- 
tion. 

Still  this  question  is  not  of  much,  perhaps  it  is  not  of  any, 
practical  importance.  By  the  proposed  selection  of  emigrants, 
all  that  could  be  done  would  be  done,  towards  procuring  relief 
from  excessive  numbers  ;  and  in  no  event  could  too  many 
people  be  removed  ;  because,  when  relief  from  excessive  num- 
bers was  obtained,  emigration  would  stop,  until  the  prospect 
of  misery  from  excessive  numbers  should  again  render  the  evil 
of  quitting  home  less  than  that  of  remaining  at  home. 

By  the  proposed  selection  of  emigrants,  moreover,  as  the 
greatest  quantity  of  relief  from  excessive  numbers  would  be 
comprised  in  the  removal  of  the  least  number  of  people,  the 
maximum  of  good  from  emigration  would  be  obtained,  not  only 
with  the  minimum  of  cost,  but,  what  is  far  more  important,  with 
the  minimum  of  painful  feelings.  All  that  old  people  and  young 
children  suffer  more  than  other  people  from  a  long  voyage 
would  be  avoided.  Those  only  would  remove,  who  were 
already  on  the  move  to  a  new  home  :  those  only,  to  whom,  on 
account  of  their  youth  and  animal  spirits,  separation  from  birth- 
place would  be  least  painful ;  those  only,  who  had  just  formed 
the  dearest  connexion,  and  one  not  to  be  severed,  but  to  be  made 
happy  by  their  removal.  And  this,  the  least  degree  of  painful 
feeling,  would  be  suffered  by  the  smallest  possible  number  of 
people. 

To  make  this  selection,  no  interference  would  be  required 
from  the  government  of  an  old  country.  Supposing  the  at- 
tractive power  of  the  colony  applied  to  the  immigration  of 
young  couples,  then  ship-owners  and  others,  who  had  con- 
tracted with  the  colonial  government  for  bringing  young  couples 
to  the  colony,  would  make  known  in  the  mother  country  that 
they  were  ready  to  convey  to  the  colony,  free  of  cost,  persons 
of  that  description,  but  not  of  any  other  description.  Suppose 
that  a  young  single  man  should  apply  for  a  passage  ;  he  would 
be  told  that  for  the  passage  of  a  single  man  there  was  no  fund, 
but  that  there  was  a  fund  for  the  passage  of  a  married  man  and 
his  wife ;  that  whenever  he  should  please  to  return  with  a 


316  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

young  wife,  they  might  both  go  to  the  colony  cost  free.  Con 
it  be  "doubtful  that  he  would  soon  return  with  a  young  wife? 
The  experiment  has  been  thus  far  tried  ;  that  when,  last  year, 
the  South  Australian  Land  Company  received  applications  for 
a  passage  to  New  Holland,  from  young  single  men  out  of  work, 
and  answered,  "  Yes,  if  you  get  married,  and  for  your  wife 
also,"  the  common  reply  was,  "  So  much  the  better  ;"  with  a 
snap  of  the  fingers,  a  laugh,  or  swimming  eyes,  that  spoke  more 
than  the  words.*  In  order  that  this  selection  should  be  made 
without  any  difficulty,  all  that  would  be  required  from  the 
government  of  an  old  country  is,  that  it  should  be  so  good  as 
to  do  nothing  ;  that  it  should  have  sense  enough  to  abstain  from 
meddling  with  the  attractive  power  of  the  colony. 

Secondly — There  are  two  ways  in  which  this  system  of 
colonization  seems  calculated  to  give  secure  and  profitable 
employment  to  the  overflowing  capital  of  a  mother  country. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  clear  that,  to  whatever  extent  this 
system  was  pursued,  the  colonies  would  be  more  extensive ; 
that  under  this  system,  they  would  be  extended  as  rapidly  as 
possible  ;  and  that  as  every  new  colony,  or  increase  of  an  old 
one,  would  be  the  extension  of  an  old  society  to  a  new  place  ; 
as  the  colonists  would  produce  more  with  the  same  number  of 
hands  than  colonists  have  ever  produced,  and  would  retain  the 
habits  and  wants  of  their  mother  country  ;  so  would  this  mode 
of  colonization  very  rapidly  increase  the  markets  in  which  the 
mother  country  might  buy  raw  produce  and  cheap  corn  with 
manufactured  goods.  One  end  of  colonization  being  to  enlarge 
the  field  for  employing  capital  and  labour  within  the  mother 
country,  that  great'  object  would  be  obtained  most  easily  and 
most  quickly  by  these  means  of  colonization. 

But,  in  the  next  place,  in  order  that  this  most  useful  process 
should  begin  as  soon  as  possible,  colonies  already  established 
might  require  some  assistance,  not  from  the  government,  but 
from  the  capitalists  of  the  mother  country.  Suppose  that  the 
Americans,  having  resolved  to  dispose  of  their  fund,  obtained 
by  the  sale  of  waste  land,  in  bringing  labour  to  the  United 
States,  should,  with  a  view  to  the  extinction  of  slavery,  with 
a  view  to  obtaining  immediately  a  sufficient  supply  of  free 
labour,  be  willing  to  anticipate,  that  fund  ?  to  borrow  money 
on  that  security?  Could  a  better  security  for  overflowing 
English  capital  be  readily  imagined  I  In  this  way,  capital 
which  is  now  lying  idle  in  England,  or  is  about  to  fly  off, 
taking  no  labour  with  it,  would  fly  oil',  indeed,  but  only  for 
a  time,  and  would  take  with  it,  or  draw  after  it,  a  correspond* 

*  Whoever  persuaded  Lord  Goderich  to  depart  from  Ins  engagement  with 
this  company,  little  Knows  how  much  bitter  disappointment  he  occasioned. 
Bui  whal  an  the  hope  •  ol  paupei    to  i  state  ? 


THE    AliT    OF    COLO.M'/ATION.  317 

ing  amount  of  surplus  labour.  We  have  only  to  suppose, 
farther,  that  in  Canada,  South  Africa,  and  Australia,  the  Ame- 
rican plan  of  selling  land  had  been  adopted  with  improvements ; 
we  have  only  to  suppose,  in  short,  that  the  legislature  of  Eng- 
land had  attended  to  this  subject,  and  we  suppose  the  opening 
of  three  more  great  fields  for  the  secure  and  profitable  employ- 
ment of  English  capital  in  the  work  of  colonization. 

The  enlargement  of  the  field,  however,  need  not  stop  here. 
While  a  portion  of  the  capital  of  the  mother  country  was  em- 
ployed in  anticipation  of  the  sales  of  waste  land,  other  portions 
would  be  employed  in  the  purchase  of  waste  land.  Immense 
capitals,  belonging  to  people  in  the  eastern  states  of  America, 
are  constantly  employed  in  the  purchase  of  new  land  on  the 
western  frontier,  and  invariably,  I  believe,  with  profit  to  the 
capitalists.  The  profit  of  such  purchases  would  be  much  more 
certain,  and  would  be  obtained  much  sooner  in  a  colony  where 
no  new  land  was  obtainable  save  by  purchase,  and  where  all 
the  purchase-money  of  new  land  was  employed  in  bringing 
selected  labourers  to  the  colony.  How  great  and  rapid  might 
be  the  profit  of  such  undertakings,  may  be  partly  conceived 
from  the  success  of  the  Canada  Company,  of  whose  proceed- 
ings a  brief  summary  appears  below.*  This  company  bought 
land  of  the  government,  without  any  assurance  that  land  would 
not  be  given  for  nothing  to  other  people  ;  and  the  money  which 
they  have  paid  to  the  government  has  been  wasted  ;  all  of  it 
in  some  way,  most  of  it  in  shameful  jobs.  Nearly  all  the  great 
and  successful  purchases  of  waste  land  in  the  United  States  are 
conducted  by  companies  residing  in  the  eastern  towns.  This 
kind  of  investment  seems  peculiarly  suited  to  companies.  The 
whole  operation  consists  of  paying  and  receiving  money;  pay- 
ing a  small  sum,  waiting,  and  then  receiving  a  large  sum.  The 
time  for  waiting  would  be  very  short,  if  all  the  money  paid 
were  employed  in  adding  to  the  colonial  population,  according 
to  a  fixed  rule,  and  so  that  the  greatest  amount  of  population 
was  added  at  the  least  cost.  It  would  be  difficult  for  com- 
panies to  make  any  serious  blunder :  scarce  any  thing  would  be 
left  to  the  neglect  of  agents ;  for  there  would  be  scarce  any 
thing  to  do  :  and,  lastly,  a  company,  by  the  employment  of  a 
large  capital,  might  take  so  much  land  in  one  lot  or  block  as 

Xominal  capital,  1,000,000/. 

Capital  actually  invested,  151,555/. 

Dividend  of  4  per  cent,  per  annum,  regularly  paid. 
Assets  of  the  company  (December,  1832):  1st.  Dills  given  by  purchasers  of 
their  land,  bearing  interest  at  6  per  cent.,  with  payment  by  instalments  effec- 
tually secured,  113,0252.  2d.  Land  paid  for  by  the  company,  but  not  yet  sold, 
including  the  town  lots  of  Guelph  and  Goderich,  460,000  acres,  estimated  at  15*, 
per  acre,  or  345,000/.  3d.  Land  remaining  to  be  paid  for,  1,658,000  acres,  at 
the  rate  of  2?.  Wd.  per  acre,  estimated  to  sell  for  los.  per  acre,  or  1,243,500/. 


318  THE   ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

would  ensure  the  formation  of  a  town  on  their  property  :  not 
by  them,  but  by  others  for  their  good.  Becoming  the  proprie- 
tors of  a  large  extent  of  land,  there  would  necessarily  occur 
upon  some  parts  of  their  property  those  kinds  of  competition 
for  the  use  of  land,  over  and  above  competition  for  land  of 
superior  natural  fertility,  which  lead  to  the  payment  of  rent : 
every  sale  by  them  would  add  to  the  value  of  land  adjoining 
that  which  had  been  sold  ;  and  the  whole  business  of  selling 
might  be  conducted  by  one  or  two  agents  of  common  intelli- 
gence. To  show  how  great  and  how  sure  would  be  the  profit 
of  such  investments,  under  the  proposed  system  of  colonization, 
I  have  collected  a  number  of  facts  which  establish  that,  even 
now,  wherever  people  congrcgrate,  new  land  invariably  rises  in 
value  soon  after  it  becomes  private  property.*  All  surplus 
capital  invested  in  this  way  would,  of  course,  take  off  with  it  a 
corresponding  amount  of  surplus  labour.  Every  investment  of 
this  kind  would  tend,  in  proportion  to  its  amount,  to  diminish  in 
the  mother  country  the  competition  of  capital  with  capital,  and 
of  labour  with  labour. 

How  this  system  of  colonization  would  tend  to  enlarge  the 
field  of  employment  for  those  classes,  who  are  not  called  either 
capitalists  or  labourers,  is  very  evident.  As  all  the  emigrant 
labourers  would  retain  the  habits  and  wants  of  their  mother 
country,  so  would  they,  having  plenty  in  the  colony,  create  a 
demand  for  the  services  of  those  classes  whose  only  property 
is  their  knowledge  ;  and  the  progressive  increase  of  this  demand 
would  keep  pace,  exactly,  with  the  very  rapid  progress  of 
colonization.  Colonies  that  were  brisk  markets  for  the  sale  of 
goods  manufactured  in  the  mother  country,  must  necessarily 
afford  employment  to  persons,  having  the  common  run  of 
knowledge,  or  superior  knowledge,  who  should  emigrate  from 
the  mother  country.  Touching  this  point,  it  is  only  necessary 
to  repeat,  that  a  colony,  founded  or  extended  in  the  way  pro- 
posed, would  be  the  extension  of  an  old  society  to  a  new  place, 
with  all  the  good,  but  without  the  evils,  which  belong  especially 
to  old  countries. 

This  exposition  of  the  views  of  the  Colonization  Society 
may  be  properly  concluded  by  a  quotation  from  their  own 
statement  of  their  principles  and  objects. 

"  To  conclude  :  We  have  purposely  abstained  from  dwelling 
on  the  improvement  which  this  system  of  colonization  might 
effect  in  the  moral  condition  of  the  poorer  classes  in  Britain, 
or  on  the  wonderful  rapidity  with  which,  by  calling  millions 
and  hundreds  of  millions  into  existence,  it  might  people  the 
desert   regions  of  the   globe.      Such  speculations,   however 

'   See  Appendix,  No.  ". 


THE    AUT    OF    COLONIZATION.  319 

grateful,  are  unsuited  to  the  present  occasion.  We  have 
confined  ourselves  to  statements  and  arguments  which  may  be 
submitted  to  the  test  of  rational  inquiry.  Any  man,  inquiring 
with  a  single  desire  to  find  the  truth,  may  readily  convince 
himself  whether  or  not  the  proposed  selection  of  emigrants 
would  prevent  all  undesirable  increase  of  people  in  the  mother 
country,  and,  at  the  same  time,  cause  the  greatest  possible 
increase  of  people  in  the  colonies  ;  whether  or  not  the  proposed 
concentration  of  the  colonists  would  tend  to  their  wealth  and 
civilization  ;  would  furnish  the  greatest  amount  of  employment 
for  labour,  and  the  greatest  fund  for  conveying  labour  to  the 
market.  These  are  questions  in  the  science  of  public  economy 
which  must  be  speedily  decided.  If  they  should  be  decided 
in  the  affirmative,  it  must  inevitably  follow,  that  the  measure  in 
question,  being  well  administered,  would  save  the  greater  part 
of  the  poor's-rate  of  England,  and  prevent,  in  Ireland,  the 
greater  evil  of  pauperism  without  poor  laws  ;  that  it  would 
occasion  a  great  and  constant  increase  of  the  demand  for 
British  manufactures  ;  that  it  would  extinguish  slavery  in  South 
Africa,  by  the  substitution  of  free  labour ;  and  that  it  would 
enable  the  more  extensive  British  colonies  to  defray  the  entire 
cost  of  their  own  government  and  protection.  Moreover,  if 
the  principles  of  the  suggested  measure  be  sound,  the  measure 
may  be  adopted,  not  only  upon  any  scale,  that  is,  by  degrees, 
so  as  to  render  its  adoption  perfectly  easy, — but  also  without 
harm  to  any,  and  with  benefit  to  all ;  without  the  least  injury 
to  a  single  person,  and  with  definable  and  manifest  advantages 
to  the  poor,  both  those  who  should  remove  and  those  who 
should  remain  ;  to  the  landlords,  farmers,  manufacturers,  mer- 
chants, and  ship-owners  of  Britain  ;  to  the  colonists  of  every 
class,  but  more  especially  to  the  land-owners  and  merchants  ; 
and  finally,  to  both  the  domestic  and  colonial  governments. 
We  beg  the  reader  to  observe  that  these  conclusions  are  stated 
hypothetically.  The  accuracy  of  the  conclusions  depends  on 
the  truth  of  the  principles,  which  it  is  our  wish  rather  to  sub- 
mit for  examination  than  to  assert  with  confidence.  But  if 
those  conclusions  should  turn  out  to  be  founded  on  reason  and 
truth,  it  will  be  acknowledged,  that  objects  more  important 
were  never  sought  by  more  simple  means." 


320  THE  ART  OF  COLONIZATION. 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  COLONIES. 


After  so  full  a  notice  of  the  other  parts  of  the  subject,  this 
part  of  it  may  be  disposed  of  in  few  words. 

If  the  purchase  of  waste  land  in  a  colony  already  established 
were  a  profitable  mode  of  employing  capital,  so  would  be  the 
purchase  of  the  first  grant  in  a  new  colony.  Nay,  as  the  first 
purchasers  of  land  in  a  new  colony  would  naturally  select  the 
spot  on  which  the  first  town,  or  the  capital  of  the  colony,  the 
seat  of  government,  and  the  centre  of  trade,  was  likely  to  be 
formed,  their  land  must  necessarily,  if  the  colony  prospered  at 
all,  soon  become  extremely  valuable.  Their  purchase-money 
would  provide  the  colony  with  labour  of  the  most  valuable 
kind,  and  in  due  proportion  to  the  land  granted.  Here,  there 
would  be  no  motive  for  anticipating  by  a  loan  the  sales  of 
waste  land  ;  because,  in  this  case,  there  would  never  be  any 
hurtful  disproportion  between  land  and  people.  The  certainty 
of  obtaining  labour  in  the  new  colony  would  be  the  strongest 
inducement  to  the  emigration  of  capitalists,  ambitious  to  take 
part  in  laying  the  foundation  of  an  empire.  Thus  would  all 
the  elements  of  wealth  be  brought  together,  with  no  further 
trouble  to  the  government  of  the  mother  country  than  what 
should  be  required  for  establishing  in  the  colony  a  fixed  and 
uniform  system  in  the  disposal  of  waste  land.  It  was  the  hope 
of  being  able  to  persuade  the  English  government  to  establish 
such  a  system  for  the  south  coast  of  Australia,  that  lately  in- 
duced a  body  of  Englishmen*  to  project  the  foundation  of  a 
colony  in  that  desert  part  of  the  world.  A  body  of  capitalists, 
sure  of  a  rapid  increase  in  the  value  of  land,  if  all  land  were 
sold  and  all  the  purchase-money  employed  in  procuring  labour, 
was  ready  to  buy  a  part  of  that  wilderness;  another  body  of 
capitalists,  depending  on  a  constant  supply  of  labour,  was  ready 
to  embark  for  that  desert;  the  most  numerous,  wealthy,  and 
estimable  body  of  Englishmen  that,  ever  proposed  to  found  a 
colony  :  and  labourers  in  abundance  were  anxious  to  accom- 
pany them,  expectim:  to  have  their  ;  paid  for  with  the 
purchase-money  of  the  desert  land.  In  order  to  carry  this  pro- 
ject into  effect,  nothing  more  was  required  than  sonic  engage- 
ment from  the  English  government,  that  the  proposed  system 
for  the  disposal  <>l  waste  land  should  be  firmly  established  in 
the  intended  colony;  some  law,  or  something  like  a  law,  tO 
prevent  a  colonial  governor,  and  the  clerks  in  Downing-stn.  t, 

*  See  in  the  Appendu  (No,  I),  t  Ret  "i  i!"-  Provisional  Committee  of  the 
Booth  A"  tralian  Land  i  lompany,  with!  Wei        ' 

(     \  i, count  Goderich. 


THE    AiiT    OV    COLONIZATION.  321 

from  meddling  with  the  disposal  of  waste  land  in  this  colony. 
The  best  security  for  this  object  would  have  been  an  act  of 
parliament ;  but  those  who  intended  to  found  the  colony  re- 
quired no  more  than  a  charter  from  the  king ;  a  something  to 
bind  the  compact  into  which  those  individuals  were  desirous  to 
enter.  This  piece  of  parchment  was  applied  for,  promised, 
and  ultimately  refused ;  on  what  grounds  applied  for,  how 
promised,  and  how  cruelly  refused,  may  be  seen  by  a  cor- 
respondence between  the  government  and  those  who  intended 
to  found  the  colony.  Part  of  this  correspondence  is  printed 
in  the  Appendix.  To  those  who  are  curious  about  the  motives 
which  may  induce  the  government  of  an  old  country  to  prevent 
the  foundation  of  colonies,  as  well  as  to  those  who  would 
ascertain  the  motives  with  which,  under  a  good  system  of  colo- 
nization, individuals  would  found  colonics,  scarcely  assisted  by 
their  government,  the  correspondence  in  question  will  prove 
highly  instructive. 

The  old  English  colonies  in  America,  now  the  eastern  States 
of  the  Union,  were  not  founded  by  any  government.  They 
were  founded  by  individuals,  not  even  aided  by  any  govern- 
ment, save  as  the  compact,  into  which  each  of  those  bodies  of 
individuals  entered,  was  bound  by  a  charter  from  the  crown 
of  England.  At  that  time,  it  had  not  been  discovered  that  the 
disposal  of  waste  land  in  a  colony  may  furnish  matter  for  favour 
and  jobs  :  at  that  time,  probably,  a  charter  to  prevent  favour 
and  jobbing  in  the  disposal  of  waste  land  would  not  have  been 
refused  by  the  government  of  England.  But,  at  that  time, 
also,  none  of  the  great  advantages  of  a  fixed  and  uniform  sys- 
tem in  the  disposal  of  waste  land  were  understood  by  any  one. 
The  evils  of  profusion  and  irregularity  have  been  made  appa- 
rent by  the  good  resulting  from  some  degree  of  caution  and 
regularity.  What  is  a  new  state  formed  in  the  western  deserts 
of  America,  if  it  be  not  a  new  colony?  Yet  how  marked  is 
the  contrast  between  the  immediate  prosperity  of  one  of  those 
new  colonies,  and  the  early  misery  of  one  of  those  which  were 
planted  on  the  eastern  coast  of  America  !  To  whatever  extent 
we  may  suppose  that  the  prosperity  of  the  newest  colonies 
arises  from  caution  and  regularity  in  the  disposal  of  waste 
land,  so  far  shall  we  attribute  the  early  misery  of  the  oldest 
colonies  to  profusion  and  irregularity.  If  some  degree  of 
caution  and  regularity  in  the  disposal  of  waste  land  ensure  the 
immediate  prosperity  of  a  new  colony,  it  seems  clear,  that  the 
prosperity  of  a  new  colony  would  be  much  greater,  and  much 
more  rapid,  under  the  proposed  system  of  selling  all  new  land 
and  converting  all  the  purchase-money  into  the  most  product- 
ive labour.  An  old  country,  then,  by  applying  this  system  to 
desert  countries  at  her  disposal,  may  create  stronger  motives 

41 


322  THE    AUT    OF    COLONIZATION. 

th;in  ever  yet  existed  for  the  foundation  of  colonies  by  bodies 
of  individuals.  This  subject  well  deserves  the  attention  of  the 
EnMish,  who  have  more  desert  land  at  their  disposal  than  any 
other  nation,  not  excepting  the  North  Americans,  and  who, 
more  than  any  other  nation,  require  that  their  field  of  produc- 
tion should  be  enlarged.* 

THE    GOVERNMENT    OF    COLONIES. 

The  advocate  of  systematic  colonization,  addressing  the 
corrupt  government  of  an  old  country,  and  actuated  by  that 
short-sighted  policy  which  attends  only  to  immediate  objects, 
and  has  no  faith  in  the  power  of  truth,  would  say  :  Proceed  in 
such  a  way  that  your  colonies  may  be  richer  than  colonies  have 
ever  been,  more  taxable,  better  worth  governing.  But  the 
corrupt  government  of  an  old  country  would  not  be  cajoled 
by  this  sort  of  language :  it  would  see,  what  must  be  plain  to 
every  one,  that,  if  colonies  were  so  many  extensions  of  an  old 
society,  they  would  never  submit  to  be  governed  from  a  dis- 
tance.' Truly,  if  the  colonists  were  kept  together  by  a  good 
system  for  the  disposal  of  waste  land,  they  would  be  richer 
than  colonists  have  ever  been,  better  able  to  pay  taxes,  better 
worth  keeping  in  subjection :  but,  so  likewise,  would  they  be 
more  intelligent,  and,  as  union  is  force,  very  much  stronger. 
The  scattered,  poor,  and  ignorant  inhabitants  of  South  Africa 
could  not  but  submit  patiently  to  the  oppression,  the  sportive 
injustice,  and  fantastic  cruelty  of  an  English  lord,  sent  across 
the  world  to  do  with  them  as  he  pleased.  They  were  inca- 
pable of  governing  themselves,  and  therefore  quite  unable  to 
resist  a  foreign  tyrant.  With  the  capacity  for  self-government 
comes  the  power  to  exercise  it.  A  people  entirely  fit  to  manage 
themselves  will  never  long  submit  to  be  managed  by  others, 
much  less  to  be  managed  by  an  authority  residing  at  a  gr^tt 
distance  from  them.  "Government  from  a  distance,"  suvs 
Bentham,  "  is  often  mischievous  to  the  people  submitted  to  it. 
Government  is  almost  always,  as  respects  them,  in  a  state  either 
of  jealousy  or  indifference.     They  are  cither  neglected  or  pfl- 

*  Mr.  Stuart,  <mp  of  the  sohcrest.  and  most  moderate  of  writers,  supposes  tliat 
the  United  States  will  obtain,  by  the  sale  ofwaste  land,  even  under  the  present 
defective  system,  "some  thousand  millions  oj  dollars."  The  national  debt  of 
England   unounta  to  between  three  and  four  thousand  millions  of  dollars. 

With  Canada,  South  Africa,    Eastern,   Western,  and  Southern  Australia,  New 

Zealand  (a  country  admirably  lit  for  colonization),  part  of  the  north-west  const 
of  America,  Oeylon  (which  in  many  respects  is  quite  lit  for  colonization),  Mada* 
r  perhaps,  some  desert  islands  in  the  Pacific,  and  great  tracts  of  desert 
l;:r„l  in  [ndia  under  a  tine  climate  ;  with  all  these  fields  of  colonization  open  to 
them,  the  Englii  h,  surely,  might  o  enlarge  their  field  of  production  as  to  laugh 
at  their  national  dl  bt. 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  323 

laged  ;  they  are  made  places  of  banishment  for  the  vilest  part 
of  society,  or  places  to  be  pillaged  by  minions  and  favourites, 
whom  it  is  desirable  suddenly  to  enrich.  The  sovereign  at 
two  thousand  leagues'  distance  from  his  subjects  can  be  ac- 
quainted neither  with  their  wants,  their  interests,  their  manners, 
nor  their  character.  The  most  legitimate  and  weighty  com- 
plaints, weakened  by  reason  of  distance,  stripped  of  every 
thing  that  might  excite  sensibility,  of  every  thing  which  might 
soften  or  subdue  the  pride  of  power,  are  delivered,  without 
defence,  into  the  cabinet  of  the  prince,  to  the  most  insidious 
interpretations,  to  the  most  unfaithful  representations.  The 
colonists  are  still  too  happy  if  their  demand  of  justice  is  not 
construed  into  a  crime,  and  if  their  most  moderate  remon- 
strances are  not  punished  as  acts  of  rebellion.  In  a  word,  little 
is  cared  for  their  affection,  nothing  is  feared  from  their  resent- 
ment, and  their  despair  is  contemned."*  But  why  is  their  an- 
ger despised  ?  Because  it  is  not  dangerous  ;  because  they  are 
helpless ;  because  they  are,  what  is  called,  new  societies.  Let 
colonies  be  old  societies  in  new  places,  and  they  will  have  the 
power  to  choose  between  self-government  and  government 
from  a  distance.  That  they  would  choose  to  govern  them- 
selves cannot  be  doubted  by  any  one  who  is  at  all  acquainted 
with  the  evils  of  being  governed  from  a  distance. 

Bentham  well  describes  how  difficult  it  is  for  subject  colonies 
to  obtain  any  redress  of  grievances  ;  but  he  says  little  of  the 
grievances  of  which  such  colonies  must  necessarily  have  to 
complain.  If  one  were  ill,  it  would  be  a  hard  case  when  the 
physician  resided  thousands  of  miles  off,  and  months  must  elapse 
before  one  could  hear  from  him  by  return  of  post ;  but  the 
degree  of  hardship  would  greatly  depend  on  the  nature  of  the 
disease.  It  is  not  very  easy  for  people,  who  have  never  been 
governed  from  a  distance,  to  understand  the  nature  of  the  evils 
which  are  thus  inflicted  on  dependent  colonies.  Every  govern- 
ment must  be  supported  by  some  kind  of  force.  The  distant 
government  seldom  maintains  in  the  colony  an  armed  force 
sufficient  to  preserve  its  authority.  Some  other  means,  then, 
must  be  adopted  to  make  the  colonists  obey  laws  which  are 
enacted  by  persons  at  a  distance,  knowing  little  of  the  colony 
and  caring  less  for  it ;  laws  too,  administered  by  strangers,  not 
fixed  in  the  colony,  nor  in  any  degree  responsible  to  the  subject 
people.  The  way  in  which  this  object  is  commonly  attained, 
is  by  dividing  the  colonists ;  by  getting  up  hostile  factions 
among  them  ;  by  allowing  some  of  them  to  share  with  the 
strangers  in  all  kinds  of  jobs  and  monopolies.  In  order  that 
the  strangers  may  pillage  the  colony,  some  of  the  colonists  are 

*  Rationale  of  Reward,  b.  iv.  chap.  14. 


324  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION. 

allowed  to  pillage  it.     In  all  the  more  extensive  colonies  which 
are  governed  from  Downing-street,  London,  there  is  a  strong 
party  of  colonists  attached  to  the  government,  and  among  the 
worst  enemies  of  the  colonial  people.     The  machinery  whereby 
misgovernment  thus  supports  itself,  is  generally  a  council  in 
the  colony,  composed  partly  of  strangers,  partly  of  colonists, 
all  named  by  the  governor ;  by  which  mockery  of  a  legislative 
assembly,  the  people  of  the  mother  country,  when  by  chance 
they  think  of  the  colonies,  are  led  to  suppose  that  the  colonies 
are  pretty  well  governed  ;  while,  in  truth,  the  governors  council 
is  a  most  efficient  means  of  misgovernment,  since  it  enables 
his  excellency  to  perform,  or  to  authorize,  acts  of  oppression, 
which  he  would  never  have  dared  to  do,  or  authorize,  on  his 
own  single  responsibility.     If  a  governor  of  New  South  Wales 
should  ever  be  called  to  account  for  acts  of  cruel  oppression 
in  that  colony,  those  acts  would  be  defended  on  the  ground  that 
they  were  approved  by  the  council,  an  assembly  consisting 
partly  of  settlers,  having  an  interest  in  common  with  the  whole 
body  of  colonists.     That  would  be  the  defence  ;  whereas  the 
truth  is,  that  the  colonial  members  of  the  governor's  council  in 
New  South  Wales  have  been  deeply  interested  in  that  mis- 
government of  which  they  shared  the  profits,  in  the  shape  of 
contracts,  undue  supplies  of  convict  labour,  and  immense  grants 
of  land.     In  Upper  Canada,  says  Mr.  Ellice,*   "it  was  the 
fashion  for  every  counsellor  to  get  a  grant  of  from   5,000  to 
20,000  acres,  to  the  great  detriment  of  the  country  and  the 
great  nuisance  of  the  inhabitants  around."     This  is  only  a 
sample  of  the  numerous  ways  in  which  some  of  the  inhabitants 
of  subject  colonies  are  bribed  to  lend  their  assistance  in  hurt- 
ing the  other  inhabitants  ;  to  lend  their  names  to  the  strangers, 
so  that  the  acts  of  those  strangers  may  be  glossed  over  with  the 
semblance  of  being  approved  by  the  colonists ;  to  lend  their 
voices,  and  in  case  of  need,  their  arms,  to  the  strangers,  so  that 
to  the  force  of  the  strangers  there  may  be  added  that  of  a 
strong  colonial  faction.     Hence  more  pillage  than  would  have 
satisfied  the  strangers  ;  hence  the  most  bitter  feuds  among  the 
colonists  themselves;   hence,  more  or  less,  the  peculiar  evils 
which  Ireland  has  Buffered  by  being  governed  from  a  distance 
through  the  instrumentality  of  a  strong  domestic  faction.     The 
evil  of  having  to  obey  laws  made  at  a  distance  would  be  great, 
but  less  than  the  evils  inflicted  in  order  to  procure  obedience 
to  laws  so  made.     The  government  of  colonies  from  a  distance 
involves  both  kinds  of  evil. 

S<>  much  evil  would  never  long  be  borne  by  a  colony  which 
had  been  founded,  or  which  was  extended  in  the  way  here 
proposed.     The  colony  being  fit.  would  he  able  to  govern  itself. 

.•  English  miniitex  ;tt  war. 


THE    ART    OP    COLONIZATION.  3ki5 

It  must  be  confessed,  therefore,  that  the  ruling  class  of  an  old 
country,  looking  only  to  immediate  and  selfish  ends,  has  an  in- 
terest in  preventing  systematic  colonization  :  a  double  interest ; 
first,  as  for  every  colony  fit  to  govern  itself  there  would  be  less 
room  for  colonies  liable  to  be  governed  from  a  distance  : 
secondly,  as  the  example  of  systematic  colonization  and  colonial 
self-government  in  one  place,  might  lead  to  the  systematic  ex- 
tension, and  then  to  the  self-government  of  colonies,  which 
were  founded,  and  have  hitherto  been  extended,  without  any 
regard  to  the  ends  and  means  of  colonization.  Here,  perhaps, 
we  may  discover  why,  last  year,  the  English  government  pre- 
vented the  foundation  of  a  colony  which,  in  local  matters,  was 
to  have  governed  itself  as  soon  as  the  population  should  amount 
to  50,000  souls. 

In  this  respect,  the  English  have  reason  to  be  proud  of  the 
wisdom  of  their  ancestors.  All  the  early  colonies  of  the  Eng- 
lish were  allowed  to  govern  themselves  from  the  beginning ; 
with  this  single  exception,  that  the  mother  country  reserved  to 
herself  a  monopoly  of  the  foreign  trade  of  the  colony.  In 
every  case,  the  colonial  laws  were  made  by  an  assembly  of 
colonists,  elected  by  the  colonists ;  and  in  some  cases  those  laws 
were  executed  by  officers,  including  the  governor,  who  were 
appointed  by  the  colonists.  The  charters,  in  a  word,  under 
which  bodies  of  Englishmen  planted  colonies  in  America,  laid 
the  foundation  of  democracy  in  that  part  of  the  world.  At 
that  time,  the  English  ruling  class  had  not  discovered  how  to 
profit  by  the  exercise  of  dominion  over  distant  colonies.  No 
sooner,  however,  did  the  English  take  possession  of  colonies, 
which  had  been  founded  by  other  nations  without  any  provis- 
ion for  local  sell-government,  than  the  aristocracy  of  England 
found  out  the  advantage  of  holding  colonies  in  subjection.  This 
advantage  became  still  more  clear  when  the  English  govern- 
ment had  made  a  settlement  in  New  Holland  ;  had  established 
a  jail  there  ;  a  society,  which,  of  course,  could  not  be  allowed 
to  govern  itself. 

As  to  that  colony,  the  system  of  transportation  is  a  good 
excuse  for  withholding  from  the  free  settlers  the  advantage  of 
self-government,  and  will  be  maintained  on  that  account,  as 
well  as  on  account  of  its  great  expense,  until  the  new  ruling 
class  of  England  shall  please  to  exert  their  authority.  Well- 
informed  as  the  English  aristocracy  now  are  of  the  many  ad- 
vantages to  themselves  attendant  on  holding  colonies  in  subjec- 
tion, they  will  always  be  ready  with  excuses  for  not  reverting 
to  the  system  of  colonial  self-government.  They  seek  to  deny, 
that  the  system  of  governing  colonies  from  Downing-street  is 
a  modern  innovation.* 

*  See  Correspondence  in  Appendix,  No.  3. 


3*26  THE    AIIT   OF    COLONIZATION. 

Those  English  colonies  which  govern  themselves  in  local 
matters,  are  distinguished  by  the  name  of  chartered  colonies, 
while  the  others  are  called  crown  colonies.  The  crown  colonies, 
such  as  New  South  Wales,  Van  Diemairs  Land,  and  South 
Africa,  being  governed  in  local  matters  from  Downing-street, 
London,  and  affording  a  vast  deal  of  patronage  to  the  noble- 
men and  gentlemen  who  live  in  that  street,  are  most  sincerely 
preferred  by  the  English  government.  But,  notwithstanding 
this  partial  affection  for  crown  colonies,  it  is  a  fact,  1  believe, 
that  never,  till  last  year,  did  the  English  government  refuse  to 
bestow  a  charter  of  incorporation  and  local  self-government 
upon  individuals  ready  to  found  a  colony  at  their  own  expense : 
it  is  a  fact,  also,  that  the  only  colony  founded  by  Englishmen 
without  such  a  charter  is  the  miserable  Swan  River  settlement, 
the  last  colony  founded  by  Englishmen. 

The  chartered  colonies  of  England,  governing  themselves 
from  the  beginning,  in  local  matters,  have  usually  defrayed  the 
whole  cost  of  their  local  government :  the  cost,  on  the  con- 
trary, of  governing  the  crown  colonies  has  generally  fallen 
upon  England.  Here  are  two  reasons  against  crown  colonies : 
first,  the  expense  which  they  occasion  to  the  country  whose 
rulers  hold  them  in  subjection  ;  secondly,  the  absence  of  any 
motive  in  the  government  of  the  colony  for  letting  the  colo- 
nists be  rich  enough  to  bear  taxation. 

The  difference  between  the  cost  of  governing  crown  and 
chartered  colonies  is  very  much  in  favour  of  the  latter.  "  All 
the  different  civil  establishments  in  North  America,"  says  Adam 
Smith,  "  exclusive  of  Maryland  and  North  Carolina,  of  which 
no  exact  account  has  been  got,  did  not,  before  the  commence- 
ment of  the  present  disturbances,  cost  the  inhabitants  above 
64,000/.  a  year  ;  an  ever-memorable  example  at  how  small  an 
expense  three  millions  of  people  may  not  only  be  governed, 
but  well  governed."  The  yearly  cost  of  governing  fifty  thou- 
sand people  in  New  South  Wales  was  lately  about  23 1,000/., 
the  salaries  of  officers  alone  being  53,468/. ;  an  ever-memo- 
rable example  at  how  great  an  expense  a  colony  may  be,  not 
only  governed,  but  very  ill  governed.*     The  crown  colony  of 

•  Specimen  of  the  salaries  in  New  South  Wales. 

G     emoi 4,200/. 

Colonial  Treasurer l,D00 

Colonial  Secretary  and  Registrar 2,uoo 

His  compensation  foi  loss  of  pension        ....  750 

Naval  Officei 2,585 

Chief  Justice 2,000 

i  t;mt  Judge       ......--  1,500 

Ditto 1,600 

Attorney-general 1,400 

BharifT  and  Provost  Marshal 1,000 

Archdeacon 8,000 

Sum                .1    ...       .                       .  1,000 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  327 

the  Swan  River,  with  about  fifteen  hundred  inhabitants,  already 
costs  England  near  7000/.  a  year  :  the  local  government  of  the 
chartered  colony,  which  it  was  proposed  to  found  at  Spencer's 
Gulf,  was  to  have  cost,  not  England,  but  the  inhabitants,  5000/. 
a  year,  and  no  more,  until  the  population  should  reach  50,000 
souls.  Chartered  colonies,  those  which  conduct  and  pay  for 
their  own  local  government,  are  sure  to  be  very  moderate  in 
their  public  expenses ;  while  the  expense  of  governing  colo- 
nies from  a  distance  is  sure  to  be  as  great  as  the  people  of  the 
ruling  country,  who  find  the  money,  will  allow.  The  cheap- 
ness of  local  self-government  is  sure  to  present  a  striking  con- 
trast with  the  dearness  of  government  from  a  distance  ;  a  con- 
trast painful  to  those  who  profit  by  governing  colonies  from  a 
distance. 

Of  two  other  reasons  in  favour  of  local  self-government, 
one  is  obvious  ;  the  other  requires  some  explanation.  First,  a 
body  of  colonists,  who  should  manage  their  own  affairs,  in  their 
own  way,  for  their  own  advantage,  would  be  sure  to  manage 
better  than  any  foreign  government,  whether  on  the  spot  or  at 
a  distance  ;  the  local  government,  unless  very  ill  constituted, 
would  have  the  deepest  interest  in  the  prosperity  of  the  colony. 
But,  secondly,  the  form  and  substance  of  the  local  government 
would  very  much  depend  upon  the  character  of  the  first 
settlers.  Magna  viruni  mater  !  exclaims  Adam  Smith,  when 
he  gives  to  England  the  credit  of  having  furnished  the  men  fit 
to  establish  empires  in  America.  But  would  those  superior 
men  have  quitted  England  for  that  purpose,  without  a  prospect 
of  self-government  ?  would  such  a  man  as  William  Penn  have 
crossed  the  Atlantic,  knowing  that,  when  in  America,  he  should 
be  subject  to  a  minister  like  Horace  Twiss,*  residing  in  Eng- 
land ?  The  greater  number,  it  is  true,  of  the  founders  of  the 
United  States  fled  from  persecution ;  but  some  of  them  did 
not ;  and  all  of  them  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  moved,  in 
part,  by  a  sentiment  of  ambition.  The  founders  of  a  colony, 
which  is  to  be  governed  by  the  colonists,  are  sure  to  enjoy  a 
greater  degree  of  consideration  and  importance  among  their 
companions,  than  they  could  reasonably  have  hoped  to  attain  in 
the  old  society.  By  the  mere  act  of  removing,  they  become 
legislators  and  statesmen  ;  the  legislators  and  statesmen  of  a 
new  country  too,  created,  as  it  were,  by  themselves.  In  the 
charters,  under  which  the  old  English  colonies  in  America 
were  planted,  we  find  recited  the  names  of  the  men  who  pro- 

*  This  gentleman,  Americans  ought  to  be  told,  is  an  English  barrister,  prac- 
tising in  the  courts  of  chancery  and  bankruptcy.  The  Duke  of  Wellington 
made  him  under-secretary  of  state  for  the  colonies  :  he  was  concerned  in  the 
foundation  of  the  Swan  River  settlement ;  and  spoke,  first,  against  the  reform 
bill  in  the  House  of  Commons. 


328  THE    AUT  OF    COLONIZATION. 

jected  and  accomplished  those  great  undertakings.  It  was 
thus,  that  men  of  a  superior  order  were  induced  to  run  the  risk 
of  failure  in  those  enterprises  ;  men  who,  by  their  energy,  judg- 
ment, patience,  and  resolution,  were  especially  qualified  to 
make  those  enterprises  succeed.  As  a  colony  fit  to  manage  its 
own  affairs  would  not  submit  to  have  them  managed  from  a 
distance,  so  a  colony  allowed  to  manage  its  own  affairs  would 
attract  men  fit  to  manage  them.  In  the  Swan  River  colony, 
which  was  founded  by  a  minister,  scarce  any  provision  has 
been  made  for  good  government :  in  the  plan  of  an  intended 
colony  at  Spencer's  Gulf,  a  plan  formed  by  individuals,  pro- 
vision was  carefully  made  for  legislation,  for  the  administra- 
tion of  justice,  for  the  support  of  religion,*  for  the  education 
of  all  classes,  and  for  the  defence  of  the  colony.  This  differ- 
ence is  explained  by  the  difference  between  a  crown  colony 
and  a  chartered  one.  In  the  latter  case,  the  charter  of  incor- 
poration and  self-government  attracted  to  the  undertaking  men 
of  a  superior  order ;  men  knowing  what  they  were  about, 
having  definite  objects  and  a  clear  conception  of  the  means  for 
accomplishing  them.  Would  such  men  have  gone  to  a  crown 
colony?  The  answer  is, that  they  would  not ;  for.  when  Lord 
Goderich  wanted  these  men  to  go  to  the  Swan  River,  they 
answered,  that  nothing  would  induce  them  to  settle  "  in  a  col- 
ony where  there  is  no  security  for  the  inestimable  advantage 
of  local  self-government." 

But,  though  it  should  be  allowed,  that  new  colonies  founded 
by  charter  of  incorporation,  and  local  self-government,  would 
put  the  mother  country  to  no  expense  for  their  internal  gov- 
ernment, still  an  objection  to  new  colonies,  which  rests  on  the 
necessity  of  protecting  them  from  foreign  violence,  remains 
untouched.  That  necessity  would  certainly  exist  in  every 
case  where  the  colony  was  unable  to  defend  itself.  But  colo- 
nies which  governed  themselves,  have  commonly  been  able  to 
defend  themselves.     The  colonies  of  Greece  were  able,  not 


'    *  The  provision  for  the  BUpporf  of  n  of  :i  very 

religious  lum  of  mind,  who  intended  to  settle  in  the  colony,  «:is  an  article  in 
the  proi  i  ed  charter,  which  declared  thai  in  this  colon;  there  should  lie  no  po- 
litical church.  This  provision  led  a  number  of  d  >  join  the  body  of 
intended  colonists.  The  dii  raise  a  subscription  among  them- 
and  their  Men  Is  for  building  :>  church,  in  whioh  their  mode  of  worship 
was  to  ho  followed;  when  the  the  Church  of  England)  who  in- 
tended to  emigrate,  immediately  began  to  raise  u  subscription  for  establishing 
their  mode  of  worship  in  the  colony.  The  present  bishop  of  London,  be  ii  said 
to  his  honour,  having  I"  ed  ab  tut  th<  <  Ihurch  of  England  subscription, 
found  no  fault  with  th"  pr  political  church,  but  engaged  to 
•  the  intended  settlers  of  his  persuasion  money  for  a  church  oi 
their  own.  01  course,  however,  both  these  incipient  subscriptions  fell  to  the 
ground,  when  Lord  Goderich  refoi  i  d  to  grant  the  <  barter  which  Ids  lordship  had 
promi  i                                    Corresj 


THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION.  329 

only  to  defend  themselves,  but  to  assist  their  parent  states  in 
resisting  foreign  violence.  The  chartered  colonies  of  North 
America  were  able  to  defend  themselves  against  their  mother 
country,  when  she  had  the  folly  to  attack  their  local  independ- 
ence. Dependence  teaches  colonies  to  lean  upon  their  mother 
country:  independence  from  the  beginning  teaches  them  to 
provide  for  self-defence  ;  not  to  mention  that  a  colony  which 
manages  its  own  affairs  has  more,  infinitely  more,  to  defend 
than  a  colony  whose  affairs  are  shamefully  managed  from  a 
distance.  Thus,  while  at  the  Swan  River  no  provision  what- 
ever has  been  made  for  self-defence,  it  was  proposed  by  those 
who  intended  to  found  a  colony  at  Spencer's  Gulf,  that  the 
whole  body  of  settlers  should  be  formed  into  a  militia  ;  and  as 
the  sum  of  125,000/.  offered  to  the  government  for  the  first 
grant  of  land  would  have  conveyed  to  the  settlement  about 
4000  young  couples,  this  colony  would  have  had  from  the  be- 
ginning an  armed  force  of  4000  men  ;  a  greater  force,  perhaps, 
than  was  ever  maintained  by  any  mother  country  in  any  new 
colony.  In  that  case,  too,  not  only  would  colonization  have 
proceeded  with  unexampled  rapidity,  but  the  colonists,  instead 
of  being  enfeebled  by  dispersion,  would  always  have  been 
strong  in  proportion  to  their  numbers.  Accustomed  to  the  use 
of  arms,  choosing  their  own  leaders,  defending  the  work  of 
their  own  hand:?,  which  is  the  foreign  government  that  would 
have  thought  it  worth  while  to  attack  them  ?  A  subject 
colony  may  not  be  harmed,  may  be  benefited,  by  a  change  of 
masters.  Subject  colonies  accordingly  have,  over  and  over 
again,  submitted  to  foreigners ;  but  when  did  a  colony,  that 
flourished  at  all,  and  was  independent  from  the  beginning, 
yield  up  the  main  cause  of  its  prosperity,  its  precious  independ- 
ence? Judging  from  past  facts,  we  may  conclude,  that  if  the 
art  of  colonization  were  skilfully  pursued,  if  colonies  were  in- 
dependent, and  were  founded,  or  extended,  so  as  to  be.  not  new 
societies,  but  old  societies  in  new  places,  the  defence  of  them 
from  foreign  violence  would  not  require  any  outlay  by  the 
mother  country.  Nay  more,  says  Adam  Smith,  "  they  might 
be  disposed  to  favour  their  mother  country  in  icar  as  well  as 
in  trade  ;  and,  instead  of  turbulent  and  factious  subjects,  to 
become  her  most  faithful,  affectionate,  and  generous  allies ;  with 
the  same  parental  affection  on  the  one  side,  and  the  same  filial 
respect  on  the  other,  which  used  to  subsist  between  the  colonies 
of  ancient  Greece  and  the  mother  city  from  which  they  de- 
scended." 

Passing  by  the  exploded  notion,  that  an  old  country  is  inter- 
ested in  preserving  a  monopoly  of  the  trade  with  her  colonies, 
we  have  still  to  inquire  whether  it  be  advantageous  to  colonies 
to  enjov  privileges  in  the  market  of  their  mother  countrv. 

42 


330  THE    ART    OF    COLONIZATION, 

Supposing  that  the  monopoly  of  the  English  sugar-market/ 
enjoyed  by  the  planters  of  the  West  Indies,  takes  out  of  the 
pockets  of  the  English,  and  puts  into  the  pockets  of  the  plant- 
ers, 2,000,000/.  a  year,  this  would  seem  to  be  a  case  in  which 
colonists  gain  by  the  sort  of  monopoly  in  question.  In  like 
manner,  the  Canadians  appear  to  gain  what  the  English  lose, 
by  the  Canadian  monopoly  of  the  English  timber  trade.  Nay, 
in  the  former  case,  the  very  existence  of  the  colonists  seems  to 
depend  on  their  monopoly  of  the  English  sugar-market ;  for 
every  one  allows  that,  if  the  English  were  permitted  to  buy 
sugar  in  the  cheapest  market  they  could  anywhere  find,  there 
would  soon  be  an  end  to  the  growth  of  sugar  in  the  West 
Indies.  But  has  not  this  monopoly,  on  which  the  existence  of 
the  colonists  now  depends,  been  the  cause  of  that  unnatural 
state  of  things,  under  which  the  monopoly  is  of  such  vast  im- 
portance to  the  colonists  ?  If  the  West  Indians  had  never  pos- 
sessed any  privilege  in  the  market  of  England,  it  seems  proba- 
ble that,  warned  by  the  decrease  of  their  profits,  arising  from 
the  exhaustion  of  their  land,  they  would  have  diverted  their 
capital  from  the  growth  of  sugar  to  some  other  employment : 
they  might  even,  from  the  moment  when  sugar  grown  on  virgin 
soils  came  into  competition  with  their  sugar,  have  seen  that  it 
was  for  their  advantage  to  set  free  their  slaves,  so  as  to  convert 
these  human  cattle  into  competitors  for  the  use  of  land.  One 
must  say,  perhaps ;  because  it  is  doubtful  whether  slaves,  very 
numerous  in  proportion  to  their  masters  of  a  different  colour, 
can  ever  be  set  free  without  a  period  of  anarchy.  But,  how- 
ever this  may  be,  what  have  the  West  Indies  become  with  the 
monopoly  ?  They  have  become,  with  and  by  means  of  the 
monopoly,  societies  so  monstrously  unnatural  as  to  depend  for 
their  very  existence  on  the  patience  of  a  distant  people,  who 
do  not  love  them,  in  submitting  to  pay  2,000,000/.  to  keep  their 
heads  above  water.  In  like  manner,  though  we  should  acknow- 
ledge that  the  Canadians  gain  what  the  English  lose  by  thedif- 
ference  between  the  price  or  quality  of  Canadian  timber  and 
Baltic  timber  in  the  English  market]  still  the  ( lanadian  monop- 
oly produces  in  Canada  an  unnatural  state  <>|*  things  :  artificially 
turning  to  the  lumber  trade  more  capital  than  would  naturally 
be  employed  iii  it,  and  exposing  the  Canadians  to  lit;  ruined  by 
bo  proper  an  acl  on  the  part  of  the  English  government  as  that 
of  letting  the  English  people  buy  timber  of  whom  they  please. 
If  colonies  Lf.i in  lor  a  time  by  monopolizing  some  trade  in  the 

market  of  their  mother  Country,  their  condition  is  unnatural  and 
dangerous  in  proportion  to  their  gains.     Such  a  monopoly,  if 

its  continuance  depended  altOg<  t  her  On  the  colonists  themselves, 
might  perhaps  be  defended,  as  t  he  American  tariff  may  be  de- 
fended, on  the  icore  of  its  ten  lency  to  promote  combination  of 


THE    ART   OF    COLONIZATION.  231 

labour  and  division  of  employments  among  the  colonists ;  but 
the  continuance  of  such  a  monopoly  must  always  depend  upon 
the  good  pleasure  of  the  mother  country.  For  every  colony, 
therefore,  such  monopolies  are  bad  ;  and  bad  just  in  propor- 
tion as  they  seem  good.  For  colonies  founded  or  extended  so 
that  the  colonists  should  combine  labour  and  divide  employ- 
ments, not  only  among  themselves,  but  with  the  people  of  their 
mother  country ;  for  colonies  that  should  naturally  raise  ex- 
changeable commodities,  such  monopolies  or  privileges  would 
not  even  appear  to  be  good.  In  the  intended  colony  at  Spen- 
cer's Gulf,  accordingly,  it  was  proposed  that  trade,  both  of  im- 
port and  export,  should  be  entirely  free.  Port  Lincoln  was  to 
have  been  a  port  without  a  custom-house.  Is  this  why  Lord 
Goderich,  the  eloquent  advocate  of  free-trade,  willed  that  it 
should  remain  without  ships? 

For  it  must  be  confessed,  that  colonial  monopolies  of  trade 
in  the  mother  country  are  of  very  great  use,  indeed,  for  holding 
dependent  colonies  in  subjection.  A  dependent  colony,  brought 
into  an  unnatural  and  dangerous  state  by  such  a  monopoly,dares 
not  to  offend  the  rulers  of  its  mother  country.  The  colonists 
of  South  Africa  with  their  wine  monopoly,  of  Canada  with 
their  timber  monopoly,  and  of  the  West  Indies  with  their  sugar 
monopoly,  are  far  more  subservient  to  Downing-street,  than 
they  would  be  if  the  people  of  England  were  free  to  buy  wine, 
timber,  and  sugar  in  the  cheapest  markets  they  could  any- 
where find.  In  this  way,  the  people  of  England  pay  magnifi- 
cently to  enable  their  rulers  to  profit  in  another  way  by  the 
dependence  of  colonies.  It  would  be  much  cheaper  for  the 
people  of  England,  and  quite  as  profitable  to  the  English 
aristocracy,  if,  the  colonies  being  left  to  themselves,  a  sum 
equal  to  the  actual  cost  of  holding  and  misgoverning  them 
were  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  English  cabinet,  under  the 
honest  name  of  a  fund  for  Corruption.  Thus  would  all  the 
cost  of  the  monopolies  be  entirely  saved,  without  any  decrease 
of  ministerial  patronage.  But  then,  it  may  be  said,  the  cor- 
ruplion  would  be  too  plain  to  be  borne.  Doubtless ;  and  here 
is  seen  one  "  public  inconvenience"*  that  might  have  arisen 
from  the  establishment  of  a  colonial  port  without  a  custom- 
house ;  the  inconvenience  of  an  example,  which,  if  generally 
followed,  would  have  taken  from  the  English  aristocracy  one  of 
their  chief  instruments  for  holding,  harassing,  and  depressing 
colonial  possessions. 

*  See  Correspondence  in  the  Appendix,  No.  3 


APPENDIX. 


No.  I. 

'   PROOFS    OF    THE    INDUSTRY,  SKILL,    AND    COMMERCIAL    DISPOSITION 
OF    THE    CHINESE    PEOPLE. 

Sir  George  Staunton,  in  his  account  of  Lord  Macartney's  em- 
bassy, thus  describes  the  Chinese  emigrants  at  Batavia. 

"  Great  numbers  of  Chinese  come  constantly  to  Batavia  with 
exactly  the  same  views  that  attract  the  natives  of  Holland  to  it — the 
desire  of  accumulating  wealth  in  a  foreign  land.  Both  generally 
belonged  to  the  humbler  classes  of  life,  and  were  bred  in  similar 
habits  of  industry  in  their  own  country  :  but  the  different  circum- 
stances that  attend  them  after  their  arrival  in  Batavia  put  an  end  to 
any  further  resemblance  between  them.  The  Chinese  have,  there, 
no  way  of  getting  forward  but  by  a  continuance  of  their  former 
exertions  in  a  place  where  they  are  more  liberally  rewarded,  and 
by  a  strict  economy  in  the  preservation  of  their  gains.  They  have 
no  chance  of  advancing  by  favour  ;  nor  are  public  offices  open  to 
their  ambition  :  but  they  apply  to  every  industrious  occupation,  and 
obtain  whatever  care  and  labour  can  accomplish.  They  become,  in 
town,  retailers,  clerks,  and  agents :  in  the  country  they  are  farmers, 
and  the  principal  cultivators  of  the  sugar-cane.  They  do,  at  length, 
acquire  fortunes,  which  they  value  by  the  time  and  labour  required 
to  earn  them.  So  gradual  an  acquisition  makes  no  change  in  their 
disposition  or  mode  of  life.  Their  industry  is  not  diminished,  nor 
their  health  impaired. 

"  The  Chinese  are  said  to  be  now  as  numerous  as  ever  again  in 
and  about  Batavia ;  for  however  imminent  the  danger  to  which  the 
Dutch  allege  that  they  are  exposed  by  the  intended  former  insurrec- 
tion of  this  people,  and  however  cruel  and  unjustifiable  the  Chinese 
consider  the  conduct  of  the  Dutch  towards  them  at  that  time,  the 
occasion  they  have  for  each  other  has  brought  them  again  together; 
and  it  is  acknowledged  by  the  latter  that  the  settlement  could 
scarcely  exist  without  the  industry  and  ingenuity  of  the  former." 

In  Mr.  Barrow's  Voyage  to  Cochin  China  the  following  passages 
occur : — 

"  The  next  description  of  inhabitants  of  Batavia,  who  in  number 
and  opulence  exf-eeds  the  former,  is  the  Chinese.  These  people, 
as  appears  by  their  records,  first  obtained  a  settlement  in  Java  about 


334  APrrxDix,  xo.  i. 

the  year  1412.  As  intruders,  but  not  conquerors,  it  is  probable  that 
they  have  at  all  times  been  subject  to  harsh  and  oppressive  treat- 
ment ;  but  the  restrictions  and  extortions  under  which  they  at  pres- 
ent (1793)  labour  seem  as  unnecessary  and  impolitic  as  they  are 
unjust.  That  they  should  consent  to  the  Mahomedans,  Malays,  and 
Javanese  exercising  their  devotions  in  the  same  temple,  which  they 
built  at  their  own  expense,  and  consecrated  to  the  god  of  their  own 
worship,  is  by  no  means  an  unfavourable  feature  in  their  character ; 
but  on  the  part  of  the  Dutch,  who  enforce  the  measure,  it  is  one  of 
the  greatest  insults  that  could  well  be  offered.  The  Chinese  hos- 
pital or  infirmary,  which  was  erected  by  voluntary  contributions  from 
their  own  community,  and  is  supported  by  legacies  arising  from  the- 
atrical exhibitions  and  fireworks,  and  by  a  small  tax  on  marriages, 
funerals,  and  the  celebration  of  public  festivals,  is  equally  open  for 
the  benefit  and  reception  of  those  who  have  not  contributed  towards 
the  establishment,  and  who  do  not  belong  to  the  society.  Into  this 
admirable  institution  are  indiscriminately  admitted  the  infirm  and  the 
aged,  the  friendless  and  the  indigent,  of  all  nations.  Towards  the 
support  of  those  institutions,  the  temple  and  the  infirmary,  their  con- 
tributions are  voluntary ;  but  exclusive  of  these,  their  industry  is 
severely  taxed  by  the  Dutch  government.  Every  religious  festival 
and  public  ceremony,  every  popular  amusement,  as  well  as  every 
branch  of  individual  industry,  are  subject  to  taxation.  They  are  even 
obliged  to  pay  for  a  license  to  wear  their  hair  in  a  long  plaited  tail, 
according  to  the  custom  of  their  country  ;  for  permission  to  bring  their 
greens  to  market,  and  to  sell  their  produce  and  manufactures  in  the 
streets.  Yet  to  the  industry  and  exertions  of  those  people  arc  the  Dutch 
wholly  indebted  for  the  means  of  existing  with  any  tolerable  degree  of 
comfort  in  Batavia.  Every  species  of  vegetable  for  the  table  is  raised 
by  them  in  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and  at  tunes  when  the  most  indefati- 
gable attention  and  labour  are  required.  They  are  masons,  carpen- 
ters, blacksmiths,  painters,  upholsterers,  tailors,  and  shoemakers. 
They  are  employed  in  the  arts  of  distilling,  sugar-refining,  potti />/, 
time-burning,  and  every  other  trade  and  profession  that  is  indispt n- 
sably  necessary  for  making  the  state  of  civilized  society  tolerably  com- 
fortable. They  are,  moreover,  the  contractors  for  supplying  the 
various  demands  of  the  civil,  military,  and  marine  establishments  in 
the  settlement ;  they  arc  the  collectors  of  the  rates,  the  customs,  and 
the  taxes;  and,  in  short,  arc  the  monopolizers  of  the  interior  eommt  ree 
of  the  island  ;  and,  With  the  Malays,  carry  on  the  principal  part  of  the 
coastmj  1 1  tab 

"Tht:  influence  which  would  naturally  follow  from  the  manage- 
ment of  concerns  so  important  and  so  extensive  could  not  long  be 
regarded  by  a  weak  and  luxurious  government,  without  jealousy. 
Those  arts  which  the  Europeans  have  usually  followed  with  success 
in  establishing  themselves  in  foreign  countries, and  which  the  Dutch 
have  not  been  backward  in  carefully  studying  and  effectually  carry- 
ing into  practice,  with  regard  to  the  natives  of  .lava,  could  not  be 
applied  with  the  least  hope  of  success  to  the  (  'hinese  settlers. 
These  people  had  DO  sovereign  to  dethrone,  by  opposing  to  him  the 


APPENDIX,  NO.  B<  335 

claims  of  a  usurper  ;  nor  did  the  separate  interests  of  any  petty  chief 
allow  them,  by  exciting  jealousy,  to  put  in  execution  the  old  adage 
of  divide  tt  impera, — divide  and  command.  With  as  little  hope  of 
success  could  the  masters  of  the  island  venture  to  seduce  an  indus- 
trious and  abstemious  people  from  their  temperate  habits  by  the 
temptation  of  foreign  luxuries;  and  their  general  disposition  to  so- 
briety held  out  no  encouragement  for  the  importation  of  spirituous 
liquors  and  intoxicating  drugs.  For,  though  the  Chinese  who  are 
in  circumstances  to  afford  it  make  use  of  opium  to  excess,  yet  this 
is  a  luxury  in  which  the  common  people  of  this  nation  rarely  think. 
of  indulging.  The  Dutch,  therefore,  who  are  weak  in  point  of  num- 
bers, had  recourse  to  a  more  decisive  and  speedy  measure  for  get- 
ting rid  of  a  redundancy  of  population,  which  had  begun  to  create 
suspicion  and  alarm:  they  put  them  to  the  sword. 

******  * 

"  This  extraordinary  affair  took  place  on  the  9th  of  October  ;  the 
whole  of  the  10th  was  a  day  of  plunder  ;  and  on  the  1 1th  they  began 
to  remove  out  of  the  streets  the  dead  bodies,  the  interment  of  which 
occupied  them  eight  days.  The  number  said  to  have  perished,  ac- 
cording to  the  Dutch  account,  amounts  to  more  than  twelve  thousand 
souls.  Having  thus  completed  one  of  the  most  inhuman  and  appa- 
rently causeless  transactions  that  ever  disgraced  a  civilized  people, 
they  had  the  audacity  to  proclaim  a  public  thanksgiving  to  the  God 
of  Mercy  for  their  happy  deliverance  from  the  hands  of  the  heathen. 
While  the  Dutch,  in  their  public  records,  endeavour  to  justify  this 
atrocious  act  on  the  plea  of  necessity,  they  make  the  following 
memorable  observation : — '  It  is  remarkable  that  this  people,  not- 
withstanding their  great  numbers,  offered  not  the  least  resistance, 
but  suffered  themselves  to  be  led  like  sheep  to  the  slaughter  !'  For 
my  own  part,  when  I  reflect  on  the  timid  character  of  the  Chinese, 
their  want  of  confidence  in  each  other,  and  their  strong  aversion  to 
the  shedding  of  human  blood :  and  when  I  compare  their  situation 
in  Batavia  to  that  of  the  Hottentot  in  the  colony  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  where  every  little  irregularity  is  magnified  into  a  plot 
against  the  government,  I  cannot  forbear  giving  a  decided  opinion 
that  these  people  were  innocently  murdered.  The  consequences  to 
the  Dutch  proved  much  more  serious  than  at  first  they  seemed  to 
have  been  aware  of.  The  terrified  Chinese,  who  escaped  the  mas- 
sacre, fled  into  the  interior  of  the  island  ;  a  scarcity  of  rice  and  every 
kind  of  vegetables,  succeeded ;  and  the  apprehensions  of  a  famine 
induced  them  to  offer  terms  to  the  fugitives,  and  to  entreat  their 
return." 

Sir  Stamford  Raffles,  in  his  History  of  Java,  writes  as  follows : 

"Besides  the  natives,  whose  number,  circumstances,  and  charac- 
ter I  have  slightly  mentioned,  there  is  in  Java  a  rapidly-increasino 
race  of  foreigners,  who  have  emigrated  from  the  different  surround- 
ing countries.  The  most  numerous  and  important  class  of  these  is 
the  Chinese,  who  already  (1815)  do  not  fall  short  of  a  hundred 
thousand  ;  and  who,  with  a  system  of  free  trade,  and  free  cultivation. 


336  APPENDIX,  NO.  I. 

would  soon  accumulate  tenfold,  by  natural  increase  within  the 
island  and  gradual  accessions  of  new  settlers  from  home.  They 
reside  principally  in  the  great  capitals  of  Batavia,  Semarang,  and 
Surabaya,  but  they  are  to  be  found  in  all  the  smaller  capitals,  and 
scattered  over  most  parts  of  the  country.  A  great  proportion  of  them 
are  descended  from  families  who  have  been  many  generations  on 
the  island  ; — additions  are  gradually  making  to  their  numbers.  They 
arrive  at  Batavia  from  China  to  the  amount  of  a  thousand  or  more 
annually,  in  Chinese  junks,  carrying  three,  four,  and  five  hundred 
each,  without  money  or  resources  ;  but  by  dint  of  their  industry  soon 
acquire  comparative  opulence.  There  are  no  women  in  Java  who 
come  directly  from  China,  but  as  the  Chinese  often  marry  the 
daughters  of  their  countrymen  by  Javan  women,  there  results  a 
numerous  mixed  race  which  is  often  scarcely  distinguishable  from 
the  native  Chinese." 

Mr.  Finlayson,  in  his  account  of  the  mission  to  Siam  Hue,  in 
1822,  speaks  as  follows  of  the  Chinese  emigrants  at  Penang  and 
Sincapore. 

"  We  had  not  proceeded  far  (at  Penang)  before  a  more  interesting 
and  gratifying  scene  was  expanded  to  our  observation.  Industry* 
active,  useful,  manly,  and  independent,  seemed  here  to  have  found  a 
congenial  soil  and  fostering  care.  The  indolent  air  of  the  Asiatic 
was  thrown  aside.  Every  one  laboured  to  produce  some  useful 
object,  and  every  countenance  teeming  with  animation,  seemed,  as  it 
were,  directed  to  a  set  task.  With  the  air,  they  had  lost  even  the 
slender  frame  of  the  Asiatic ;  and  the  limbs,  and  muscularity,  and 
symmetry  were  those  of  another  and  more  energetic  race.  These 
were  Chinese,  a  people  highly  valuable  as  settlers,  by  reason  of  their 
industrious  and  regular  habits,  who  had  established  on  this  spot  the 
mechanical  arts,  on  a  scale  which  might  even  vie  with  that  of  the 
European  artists,  but  which  we  look  for  in  vain  in  any  other  part  of 
India.  It  was  a  pleasing  and  gratifying  spectacle — so  much  are  we 
in  India  accustomed  to  the  opposite — to  see  a  numerous,  very  mus- 
cular, and  apparently  hardy  race  of  people,  labouring  with  a  degree 
of  energy  and  acuteness,  which  gave  to  their  physical  character  a 
peculiar  stamp,  and  placed  them  in  a  highly  favourable  point  of  view, 
when  compared  with  the  habits  of  the  nation  around  them.  Their 
manner  of  using  their  instruments!  so  different  from  the  puerile  style 
of  Indian  artists,  had  in  it  roach  of  the  dexterity  of  the  Europeans: 
while  their  condition  bespoke  them  a  flourishing  and  wealthy  tribe. 
All  the  principal  Bhops,  all  important  and  useful  employments,  and 
almost  all  the  commerce  oftlu  island,  were  in  their  hands.  1  nderthe 
patronage  of  the  British  government  they  soon  acquire  riches;  they 
meet  with  entire  protection  of  property  and  person,  and  are  cherished 
by  the  government,  which,  in  return,  derives  benefits  from  their  in- 
dustry, and  from  the  commercial  and  profitable  speculations  in  which 

ihey  usually  en 

"  The  neatness,  the  industry,  and  the  ingenuity  displayed  in  plan- 


APPENDIX,  NO.  I.  337 

tations  of  this  sort  (at  Sincapore)  afford  a  very  gratifying  spectacle, 
and  attest  the  great  progress  which  the  Chinese  nation  has  made 
in  agricultural  science.     The  Chinese  may  be  considered  as  the  sole 

cultivators  of  the  soil. 

******* 

"  The  most  prominent  feature  in  the  character  of  the  Chinese 
emigrant,  is  industry:  the  best  and  highest  endowment  which  he 
has  attained.  He  is  mechanically  uniform  and  steady  in  the  pursuit 
of  what  he  conceives  to  be  his  immediate  and  personal  interest,  in  the 
prosecution  of  which  he  exerts  a  degree  of  ingenuity  and  of  bodily 
labour  and  exertion,  which  leave  all  the  Asiatics  at  a  distance.  He 
labours  with  a  strong  arm,  and  is  capable  of  great  and  continued  ex- 
ertion. He  is  not  satisfied  to  bestow  the  quantity  of  labour  neces- 
sary for  the  mere  gratification  of  his  immediate  wants.  Profusion 
and  indulgence  claim  a  share  of  the  produce  of  his  toils.  Next  in 
the  catalogue  of  his  virtues  may  be  reckoned  general  sobriety,  hon- 
esty, a  quiet,  orderly  conduct,  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  country 
in  which  he  resides ;  and,  as  is  affirmed,  a  strong  and  unalterable 
sense  of  the  important  duties  which  parental  affection  inculcates. 
******  * 

"  It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  the  Chinese  are,  in  a  political 
point  of  view  at  least,  by  far  the  most  useful  class  of  people  to  be 
found  in  the  Indian  seas  or  Archipelago.  Their  robust  frames,  their 
industrious  habits,  and  their  moderate  conduct  place  them  beyond 
competition.  They  furnish  the  best  artizans,  the  most  useful 
labourers,  and  the  most  extensive  traders.  Their  commercial  spec- 
ulations are  often  extensive,  and  often  of  the  most  adventurous 
nature." 

Mr.  Dobell,  who  resided  in  China  for  several  years,  and  whose 
lately-published  account  of  that  country  abounds  with  valuable  in- 
formation, says — 

"  The  reader  must  excuse  this  digression  on  the  subject  of  the 
Chinese  foreign  commerce,  as  many  have  asserted  China  to  be 
a  country  wholly  agricultural  and  manufacturing,  while  real  expert 
ence  proves  the  contrary.  After  giving  this  imperfect  account  of  it, 
which  might  have  been  extended  to  a  volume,  and  given  more  in 
detail,  no  one  will,  I  think,  believe  that  the  Chinese  are  locked  up  at 
home.  It  may,  indeed,  be  safely  asserted,  that  they  are  one  of  the 
most  commercial  nations  of  the  globe."* 

The  above  descriptions  of  the  Chinese  people  are  confirmed  by 
several  witnesses  before  the  select  committee  on  the  affairs  of  the 
East  India  Company  ;  from  whose  evidence  the  following  statements 
are  extracted. 

Captain  Charles  Hutchinson,  a  commander  in  the  navy,  who 
commanded  the  Bombay  Castle,  from  Liverpool,  and  went  to  India  ; 
and  remained  there  five  years. 

•Residence  in  China, vol.  ii.  page  159. 
43 


238  APPENDIX,  NO.  I. 

"  As  you  were  three  times  at  Canton  engaged  in  those  transactions 
of  commerce,  what  should  you  say,  from  your  opportunities  of  ob- 
serving the  character  and  habits  of  the  people  of  China,  as  to  their 
disposition  with  respect  to  intercourse  with  other  countries  and  car- 
rying  on  trade  generally  ? — They  have  a  very  great  avidity  to  trade 
with  everybody  they  are  permitted  to  trade  with.  •  The  merchants 
of  China  are  extremely  eager  to  trade  with  every  one  that  comes 
into  the  country ;  more  so  than  any  people  I  have  seen. 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  they  are  a  speculative,  trading,  enter- 
prising country  ? — \  ery  much  so  ;  beyond  any  other  I  have  seen. 

"  Should  you  think  it  is  a  just  distinction,  speaking  of  the  Chinese 
nation,  to  say  that  the  people  are  speculative,  and  much  disposed  to 
foreign  trade,  although  the  government  is  professedly  adverse  to 
communication  with  foreigners  ? — Yes,  certainly  ;  the  government 
may  be  said  to  be  so  far  adverse  to  trade,  that  it  is  jealous  of  you, 
knowing  what  you  have  done  in  India,  and  it  is  apprehensive  of  your 
intrusion  ;  but  so  long  as  they  may  be  secure  that  nothing  else  would 
be  attempted,  they  are  as  desirous  of  carrying  on  the  trade  as  the 
people  themselves. 

"  Did  you  happen  to  hear  whether  the  British  manufacturers  found 
their  way  into  the  interior  of  China,  or  whether  they  were  confined 
to  districts  adjacent  to  Canton? — They  find  their  way  into  the  inte- 
rior, so  far  as  the  carriage  of  them  will  allow  without  rendering 
them  too  dear.  They  are  very  desirous  of  obtaining  them,  I  under- 
stand, in  all  parts  of  China,  particularly  in  many  northern  districts, 
where  they  require  the  woollens  for  warm  clothing. 

"  Do  you  think  that  if  there  were  an  open  trade,  the  Chinese  would 
consume  British  cotton  manufactures  to  any  great  extent? — The 
Chinese  admitting  them  only  at  one  port,  of  course  the  consumption 
could  not  be  extended  so  far  as  if  they  were  admitted  at  other 
ports,  but  as  far  as  they  could  be  carried  with  advantage,  the  Chinese 
would  be  glad  to  buy  them  and  use  them." 

Mr.  Charles  Everett,  a  commission  merchant,  who  was  en- 
gaged for  eleven  years,  since  the  year  1818,  in  purchasing  goods 
for  the  China  market,  on  account  of  American  merchants. 

"Have  you  any  doubt,  from  the  experience  you  have  had,  that  if 
the  existing  restrictions  were  removed,  the  trade  to  China  in  British 
manufactures  might  be  materially  increased  ? — I  have  no  doubt  the 
trade  alight  he  increased  to  a  considerable  extent  by  proper  manage- 
ment, if  the  restrictions  were  removed." 

Joshua.  Batfs,  Esq.,  an  American  ;  agent  for  an  American  house 
connected  with  the  East  India  trade;  then  partner  of  the  firm  of  J. 
Bates  and  John  Baring,  and  lastly,  partner  of  the  house  of  Baring, 
Brothers  and  Co.;  both  of  which  houses  had  the  management  of  the 
business  of  an  American  house  particularly  connected  with  the 
China  trade. 

"  You  have  expressed  an  opinion,  that  in  the  event  of  the  China 
trade  being  thrown  open,  it  would  probably  centre  in  this  country  ; 


APPENDIX,  NO.  I.  239 

would  that  arise  from  cheaper  purchases  of  tea,  or  from  cheaper 
supplies  in  this  country,  or  from  cheaper  shipping  being  engaged,  or 
from  what  other  cause  ? — There  would  be  a  great  export  of  manu- 
factures to  those  regions,  and  of  course  something  would  be  wanted 
for  returns.  They  would  bring  back  teas,  and  every  description  of 
produce  they  could  find  in  those  countries  ;  and  not  only  would  they 
bring  back  such,  but  perhaps  increase  them  by  the  very  act  of  car- 
rying manufactures,  as  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  those  countries, 
who  have  hitherto  not  laboured  at  all,  seeing  such  beautiful  things 
brought  out  from  this  country,  would  be  desirous  of  possessing  them, 
and  proceed  to  labour  to  get  something  to  buy  them  with  ;  and  this 
course  of  trade  would  bring,  perhaps,  more  tea  here  than  is  wanted  ; 
and  the  price  being  reduced,  it  would  either  be  bought  for  smuggling 
into  the  continent,  or  for  exporting  to  those  places  to  which  it  would 
go  legally. 

"  Do  you  consider  the  trade  in  China  susceptible  of  any  great 
increased  stimulus  ? — I  see  nothing  to  prevent  it  increasing  very 
much." 

Mr.  John  Deans,  a  resident  in  the  Eastern  Archipelago  for 
twenty  years. 

"  What  is  their  (the  Chinese  people)  character  as  traders,  speak- 
ing generally  ? — They  are  keen,  enterprising  traders,  extremely 
expert  in  their  dealings,  and  understand  the  nature  of  the  trade  of 
those  countries  in  which  they  are  settled,  perhaps  better  than  any 
other  people. 

"  Have  they  information  that  enables  them  to  carry  on  their  com- 
mercial transactions  with  advantage  ? — They  seem  to  have  very 
accurate  information,  and  receive  it  very  quickly  too. 

"  What  is  their  character  as  merchants,  with  reference  to  the  punc- 
tuality of  their  dealings  and  the  mode  of  transacting  business? — Those 
who  have  obtained  a  high  reputation  are  extremely  tenacious  of  it, 
and  they  are  very  punctual  in  all  their  dealings. 

"Do  they  appear  to  possess  more  or  less  of  the  characteristics 
which  are  requisite  for  the  business  of  a  merchant  than  the  natives 
of  other  oriental  countries  ? — I  do  not  think  they  are  exceeded  by  the 
natives  of  any  country  as  a  commercial  people. 

"Do  you  include  European  countries? — I  do. 

"Is  it  difficult  to  transact  business  with  them  ? — Not  the  least ; 
— I  have  never  had  any  difficulty  with  the  Chinese. 

"  Have  you,  in  point  of  fact,  transacted  much  business  with  them  ? 
— I  have,  very  extensive  business. 

"  Will  you  state  what  that  business  was  ? — I  imported  largely 
British  manufactures  to  Java,  and  the  medium  of  communication  with 
the  natives  was  generally  through  the  Chinese,  who  purchased  from 
me  in  whole  cases  or  bales,  and  retailed  to  natives,  giving  me  their 
simple  notes  of  hand  for  payment,  and  being  always  punctual  in 
meeting  those  demands. 

"  Have  you  any  reason  to  form  an  opinion  whether  the  taste  for 
European  manufactures  which  exists  among  the  Chinese  inhabitants 


340  APPENDIX,  NO.  I. 

of  Java,  is  peculiar  to  them,  or  whether  it  extends  also  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  empire  itself? — I  cannot  exactly  state  this  ;  the  settlers 
are  Chinese  ;  their  habits  are  the  same  in  the  Archipelago  as 
in  their  native  country,  I  believe,  and  they  readily  adopt  our  manu- 
factures in  preference  to  their  own,  when  those  are  cheaper  and 
better.  When  I  first  went  to  Java,  in  1811,  they  were  almost  ex- 
clusively clothed  in  Chinese  manufactures,  and  I  witnessed  a  revolu- 
tion, which  almost  clothed  them  in  European  manufactures,  during 
the  time  I  was  there. 

"  Have  you  reason  to  know  in  what  light  the  European  imports 
into  China  are  considered  by  the  Chinese  people,  or  whether  they 
could  easily  be  dispensed  with  by  them  ? — 1  know  that  the  imports 
to  China  are  of  far  more  importance  to  that  empire  than  perhaps  the 
tea  is  to  this  country,  great  as  it  is  considered. 

"  Can  you  state  to  the  committee  any  instance  of  the  discovery 
of  a  new  article,  or  the  extension  of  the  production  of  an  old  one, 
which  has  added  to  the  value  of  the  imports  into  China  ? — I  can 
state  one,  perhaps  not  of  great  importance,  but  it  would  show  that 
there  are  many  others  with  respect  to  which  the  same  thing  might 
be  done.  The  large  glasses  or  rummers  which  are  used  in  their 
houses  for  burning  a  light  before  their  gods,  opposite  their  front 
door ;  I  noticed  them  on  one  occasion  as  being  made  of  imperfect 
Cluna-glass.  I  asked  die  Chinese  if  they  would  have  any  objection 
to  British  manufacture,  if  the  same  patterns  were  preserved,  and 
they  gave  me  patterns  of  thern,  which  I  brought  home,  and  had 
manufactured  at  Birmingham.  I  took  them  out,  and  had  them  sold 
for  a  considerable  price,  and  they  have  since  continued  to  be  sup- 
plied from  different  places  to  a  great  extent. 

Mr.  John  Argyle  Maxwell. 
•"  Supposing  the  trade  in  tea  to  be  thrown  open,  do  you  conceive 
that  tea  might  be  imported  into  Sincapore  of  a  quality  fit  for  the 
European  market,  and  in  sufficient  quantity  ? — I  have  no  ground  for 
speaking  positively  on  that  subject:  but  several  of  the  Chinese  there 
have  frequently  offered  to  contract  with  me  for  the  supply  of  black 
teas  from  Fokien. 

Robert  Richards,  Esq. 

"  Have  you  had  any  communication  or  information  enabling  you 
to  form  an  opinion  of  the  anxiety  of  the  Chinese  to  extend  their 
trade? — I  believe  that  the  Chinese  are  a  perfectly  commercial 
people.  Wherever  the  (  iiinese  have  been  established  in  Sincapore, 
in  Java,  in  Borneo,  and  in  the  other  eastern  islands  where  they  are 
settled  in  great  numbers,  they  are  found  to  be  the  principal  trailers, 
and  the  must,  industrious  people  in  the  country.  I  therefore  take  the 
Chinese,  generally  speaking,  to  he  a  perfectly  commercial  people, 
and  exceedingly  anxious  to  extend  their  eoinmereial  dealings,  in 
spite  of  any  restrictive  regulations  that  may  be  imposed  upon  them 
by  the  Chinese  government. 

*  Have  you  had  any  specific  examples  brought  to  your  notice  of 


APPENDIX,  NO.  I.  341 

the  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese,  in  other  ports  than  Canton,  to 
open  a  communication  with  English  merchants  ? — Yes.  I  have  in 
my  possession  an  extract  of  a  letter  from  a  European  merchant 
who  had  visited  China,  to  his  friend  and  correspondent  in  Calcutta. 
It  is  dated  Canton,  19th  September,  1823 ;  and  the  extract  is  as 
follows : 

" '  The  Manilla  people  only  are  allowed  liberty  to  trade  with 
Amoy,  which  would  have  been  granted  to  us  could  we  have  waited. 
A  mandarin  followed  us  seven  miles  from  the  port  of  Amoy,  to  en- 
treat our  return,  which  however  our  plans  would  not  admit  of. 
We  experienced  civil  treatment,  even  from  mandarins  of  rank,  and 
the  complaisance  of  the  inhabitants  generally  formed  an  agreeable 
contrast  to  the  haughty  demeanour  of  the  lowest  here  (Canton). 
The  single  circumstance  of  foreigners  not  being  denied  women  (as 
they  are  most  rigidly  here,  Canton)  speaks  volumes.  No  foreigner 
is  allowed  to  remain  after  the  departure  of  his  ship.  As  far  as  we 
could  learn,  no  charge  similar  to  measurement-duty  is  levied  on 
foreign  ships.  The  government  revenue  is  derived  from  an  export- 
duty,  which  the  foreigner  pays  on  his  export  cargo ;  but  this  duty 
appears  to  be  not  fixed :  and  I  suspect  the  injudiciousness  of  the 
mandarins  in  increasing  it  beyond  bounds,  is  the  cause  of  the  dis- 
continuance of  the  trade  by  the  Manilla  people.  It  is  probable  that, 
with  a  view  to  bring  it  back,  the  mandarins  would  now  be  more 
reasonable.  They  seem  to  say,  that  the  Hong  merchants  of  Amoy 
are  pretty  much  in  the  bankrupt  situation  of  those  here  (Canton). 
They  inquired  much  the  most  for  the  articles  from  the  eastern  isles 
imported  in  their  junks  ;  and  also  for  nee,  for  which  they  rely  mainly 
on  Formosa ;  but  we  could  form  no  idea  of  the  price  to  be  obtained 
for  them.  The  prices  of  the  European  articles  we  saw  in  the  shops 
were  not  so  much  above  the  Canton  rates  as  was  to  be  expected.  I 
am  very  keen  for  an  adventure  to  Amoy,  for  the  purpose  of  opening 
new  channels  for  opium  in  that  quarter,  the  chief  mart  of  its  consump- 
tion ;  but  it  is  too  weighty  a  concern  for  us  to  undertake  singly ; 
and  I  have  contented  myself  with  writing  to  Manilla  for  information, 
and  with  sounding  our  friends  there  on  the  subject.  As  you  have 
already  adventured  in  a  Chinese  bottom,  you  will,  I  hope,  give  a 
lift  to  our  plans  also.  The  foreign  trade  in  junks  is  not  contraband 
in  China,  since  the  accession  of  the  present  family  (about  1660).  It 
is  connived  at  by  the  government,  and  is,  I  believe,  even  licensed  at 
Amoy.  I  do  not  see  why  a  junk  could  not  load  goods  at  Amoy 
or  elsewhere,  as  if  for  a  foreign  port  (Manilla,  Batavia,  &c),  and 
afterward  trans-ship  them  to  a  foreign  vessel  waiting  in  the  neigh? 
bourhood.' " 

John  Crawfurd,  Esq. 
"  From  your  intercourse  with  those  Chinese,  do  you  conceive  them 
to  be  an  intelligent,  active,  and  commercial  people  '? — Eminently  so. 
They  are  a  very  industrious  people  in  every  way ;  they  are  a  busi- 
ness-like people ;  their  manners  more  resemble  Europeans  in  that 
part  of  their  character  than  they  do  those  of  Asiatic  nations. 


242  APPENDIX,  NO.  I. 

"In  industry  and  intelligence  do  you  conceive  them  to  be  superior 
to  other  Asiatic  nations  ? — For  all  useful  and  practical  purposes  I 
think  they  are.  There  are  perhaps  a  few  points  in  which  they  are 
inferior  to  one  or  two  other  Asiatic  nations,  but  those  points  are  of 
very  little  moment." 

John  Stewart,  Esq.  a  Member  of  the  Committee. 
"  Will  you  state  what  opinion  you  have  formed  of  them  as  a  com- 
mercial people,  or  an  ami-commercial  people  ? — From  the  inter- 
course I  have  had  with  the  Chinese  at  Canton,  I  certainly  consider 
them  a  people  of  very  great  commercial  enterprise,  although  I  believe 
the  policy  of  the  Chinese  is  against  extending  the  foreign  commerce 
of  the  country." 

Captain  John  Mackie. 

"  Are  you  of  opinion  that  the  Chinese  in  the  places  you  visited  are 
anxious  for  the  extension  of  commerce  ? — I  should  conceive  that 
they  were,  because  /  have  always  found  the  Chinese  inclined  to  buy 
any  thing  that  was  at  all  useful,  of  any  description. 

"  You  conceive  them  to  be  any  thing  but  an  anti-commercial 
people  ? — I  should  consider  them  to  be  quite  otherwise." 

John  Francis  Davies,  Esq. 
"  The  Chinese,  if  left  by  their  rulers  to  themselves,  would  perhaps 
be  the  most  industrious  people  in  the  world." 

Mr.  Crawfurd's  Statement. 
[Extracted  from  the  Third  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  on  the 
Affairs  of  the  East  India  Company.) 
"  Have  you  prepared  a  statement  for  the  information  of  the  com- 
mittee upon  the  subject  of  the  Chinese  emigrations  ? — I  have. 
"  Will  you  have  the  goodness  to  read  it?" 

{The  witness  then  read  the  same,  as  follows :) 

"  A  view  of  the  Emigrations  of  the  Chinese  to  the  various  countries 
adjacent  to  China. 

"  The  emigrations  of  the  Chinese  take  place  from  the  same  prov- 
inces which  conduct  the  foreign  trade ;  viz.  Canton,  Fokien,  Che- 
kien,  and  Kiannan.  Emigrations  from  the  two  latter,  however,  are 
not  frequent,  and  seem  to  he  confined  to  Tonquin  and  the  Philippine 
Islands.  The  emigrants  direct  their  course  to  every  country  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  China  where  there  is  any  probability  of  finding 
employment  and  protection;  in  softie  countries,  however,  they  are 
excluded  or  restrained,  from  political  motives,  and  in  others,  distance 
or  want  of  room  allbrds  them  no  encouragement  to  settle.      Like  the 

European  nations,  they  are  excluded  altogether  from  Battling  in 
Japan,  on  political  "rounds;  the  government  of  Cochin  China  also 
affords  them  no  great  encouragement* from  the  same  reason,  and  the 
Dutch  ami  Spanish  governments  of  .lava  and  the  Philippines  have 
always  looked  upon  them  with  a  considerable  share  of  suspicion. 


APPENDIX,  NO.  I.  243 

Distance,  but  above  all,  the  existence  of  a  dense  and  comparatively 
industrious  population,  excludes  them  from  the  British  dominions  in 
Hindostan,  where  we  find  only  a  few  shoemakers  and  other  artisans, 
and  these  confined  to  Calcutta,  Madras,  and  Bombay.  A  few,  I 
understand,  have  lately  proceeded  to  the  Mauritius. 

"Every  emigrant  who  leaves  China  does  so  with  the  intention  of 
returning  to  it,  although  comparatively  few  are  able  to  accomplish 
this  object.  The  expense  of  emigration  to  the  countries  to  which 
the  Chinese  usually  resort,  amounts  to  but  a  mere  trifle.  The  pas- 
sage-money in  a  Chinese  junk  from  Canton  to  Sincapore  is  but  six 
Spanish  dollars  ;  and  from  Fokien  but  nine.  Even  these  slender 
sums,  however,  are  commonly  paid  from  the  fruits  of  the  emigrant's 
labour  on  his  arrival,  and  are  seldom  paid  in  advance.  The  emi- 
grants, I  think,  are  invariably  of  the  labouring  classes,  and  their 
whole  equipment  lor  the  voyage  in  ordinary  cases  consists  of  little 
else  than  the  coat  on  their  backs,  a  bundle  of  old  clothes,  and  a  dirty 
mat  and  pillow  to  sleep  on.  They  no  sooner  land  than  their  condi- 
tion is  prodigiously  improved  ;  they  meet  their  countrymen,  and 
probably  their  friends  or  relatives  ;  they  find  immediate  employment 
in  a  congenial  climate,  and  in  countries  where  the  wages  of  labour 
are  perhaps  three  times  as  high  as  in  China,  and  the  necessaries  of 
life  perhaps  by  one-half  cheaper. 

"  The  Chinese  are  not  only  intellectually,  but  physically  superior 
to  the  nations  and  tribes  among  whom  they  settle.  A  Chinese  is  at 
least  two  inches  taller  than  a  Siamese,  and  by  three  inches  taller 
than  a  Cochin  Chinese,  a  Malay,  or  a  Javanese :  and  his  frame  is 
proportionably  strong  and  well  built.  Their  superiority  in  personal 
skill,  dexterity,  and  ingenuity  is  still  greater.  All  this  is  evinced 
in  a  very  satisfactory  manner,  by  the  simple  criterion  of  the  compar- 
ative rates  of  wages  of  the  different  classes  of  inhabitants  or  sojourn- 
ers at  any  given  place  where  they  all  meet.  At  Sincapore,  for 
example,  the  wages  of  ordinary  labour  for  the  different  classes  of 
labourers  are  as  follow  :  A  Chinese,  eight  dollars  a  month  ;  a  native 
of  the  Coromandel  coast,  six  dollars ;  and  a  Malay,  four ;  making 
the  work  of  the  Chinese  by  one-third  better  than  that  of  the  first,  and 
by  100  per  cent,  better  than  that  of  the  second.  When  skill  and 
dexterity  are  implied,  the  difference  is  of  course  wider ;  a  Chinese 
house-carpenter  will  earn  twelve  dollars  a  month,  while  an  Indian 
will  earn  no  more  than  seven ;  and  a  Malayan  thalcher  or  wood- 
cutter, for  among  this  class  there  are  no  carpenters,  but  five. 

"  The  different  classes  of  Chinese  settlers  not  only  live  apart,  and 
keep  distinct  from  the  settlers  of  other  nations,  but  also  from  each 
other.  There  is  a  very  wide  difference  between  the  character, 
habits,  and  manners  of  the  Chinese  settlers,  according  to  the  parts 
of  China  from  which  they  proceed.  The  natives  of  Fokien  have  a 
claim  to  a  higher  tone  of  character  than  any  of  the  rest.  Among  the 
emigrants  from  the  province  of  Canton  there  are  three  classes  ;  viz. 
those  from  the  town  of  Canton  and  its  neighbourhood  ;  the  natives  of 
Macao  and  other  islands  in  the  river ;  and  the  natives  of  some  moun- 
tainous districts  of  the  same  province.     The  first  of  these,  besides 


344  APPENDIX,  NO.  I. 

being  addicted  to  mercantile  pursuits,  are  the  best  artisans,  and  are 
much  disposed  to  enter  into  mining  speculations.  It  is  they  who 
are  chiefly  engaged  in  working  the  silver  mines  of  Tonquin,  the  gold 
mines  of  Borneo,  and  the  Malay  peninsula,  and  the  tin  mines  of  the 
latter  country  and  of  Banca.  The  Chinese  of  Macao  and  the  other 
islands  are  held  in  very  little  repute  among  the  rest  of  their  country- 
men ;  but  the  third  class,  who  are  numerous,  are  the  lowest  in  rank. 
Their  most  frequent  employment  is  that  of  fishermen  and  mariners  ; 
and  it  is  from  among  their  ranks  that  the  European  shipping,  when 
in  want,  have  occasionally  received  hands  to  assist  in  their  naviga- 
tion. Of  all  the  Chinese  these  are  the  most  noisy  and  unruly. 
There  is  still  another  class  of  Chinese,  the  settlers  in  the  Birman 
dominions,  who  differ  very  remarkably  from  all  that  I  have  just 
enumerated.  With  the  exception  of  a  small  number  of  emigrants 
from  the  province  of  Canton,  who  find  their  way  to  Ava  by  sea,  they 
are  all  from  the  province  of  Yunan,  and  in  point  of  industry  and  in- 
telligence seemed,  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  much  superior  to  the  col- 
onists from  Canton  and  Fokien.  From  all  these  again,  the  mixed 
races  are  to  be  distinguished  by  their  superior  knowledge  of  the 
language,  manners,  and  customs  of  the  countries  in  which  they 
reside,  and  by  some  inferiority  in  industry  and  enterprise.  It  is 
from  this  class  that  European  merchants  are  supplied  with  brokers, 
money-counters,  &c.  and  they  are  seldom  to  be  seen  in  the  condi- 
tion of  day-labourers  or  artisans.  The  Chinese  settlers,  of  what- 
ever class,  engage  with  much  eagerness  in  agricultural  employ- 
ments, seldom,  however,  when  they  can  avoid  it,  as  mere  day-labour- 
ers. They  conduct  almost  exclusively  the  cultivation  and  manufac- 
ture of  the  catechu  or  terra-japonica  in  the  Straits  of  Malacca,  the 
pepper  cultivation  of  Siam,  and  the  culture  of  the  cane  and  manufac- 
ture of  sugar  in  Java,  Siam,  and  the  Philippines.  Differing  mate- 
rially from  each  other  in  manners,  habits,  and  almost  always  in 
language  or  dialect,  and  entertaining  towards  each  other  provincial 
prejudices  and  antipathies ;  broils  and  quarrels,  sometimes  even 
attended  with  bloodshed,  frequently  break  out  among  them.  These 
are  occasionally  subjects  of  embarrassment  in  the  European  settle- 
ments, the  authorities  of  which  have  never,  I  am  persuaded,  any  thing 
to  apprehend  from  their  combination  or  resistance ;  and  1  may  add, 
that  of  all  the  Asiatic  settlers  in  our  eastern  settlements,  the  Chinese 
are  most  obedient  to  the  laws,  and  notwithstanding  the  superior 
amount  of  their  property,  and  even  of  their  numbers,  afford  the 
least  employment  to  the  courts  of  justice. 

"The  Chinese  population  settled  in  the  various  countries  adja- 
cent to  China,  may  be  roughly  estimated  as  follows: — 

The  Philippine  islands        -         -         -      15,000 
Borneo 120,000 

Java 45,000 

The  Dutch  settlement  of  Khio,  Straits  of 

Malacca 18,ooo 

Sincapore           -----  0,200 


APPENDIX,  \o.  r. 

Malacca             .... 

2,000 

Penang     - 

8,500 

Malayan  Peninsula     ... 

-      40,000 

Siam         - 

-    440,000 

Cochin  China    - 

-      14,000 

Tonquin 

-      25,000 

Total 

-    734,700 

345 


"  The  population  mentioned  here  is  of  a  peculiar  description,  con- 
sisting, for  the  most  part,  of  adult  males,  and  of  very  few  women  or 
children,  a  circumstance  easily  explained.  The  laws  of  China, 
which  prohibit  emigration  in  general,  are  a  dead  letter,  as  far  as  the 
men  are  concerned,  but  it  is  imperative  with  respect  to  women  and 
children,  or  perhaps,  more  strictly,  the  manners  and  feelings  of  the 
people  themselves  prevent  the  latter  from  quitting  the  country.  I 
have  never  seen  or  heard  of  a  female  among  the  emigrants,  and  never 
saw  a  Chinese  woman,  except  at  Hue,  the  capital  of  Cochin  China, 
where  two  or  three  were  pointed  out  to  me  as  objects  of  curiosity,  who 
had  been  kidnapped  and  brought  there  when  children.  The  emigrants 
however,  without  scruple,  form  connexions  with  the  females  of  the 
country,  and  the  descendants  of  these  repeatedly  intermarrying  with 
Chinese,  are  in  time  not  to  be  distinguished  from  the  genuine  Chinese 
either  in  features  or  complexion.  In  all  the  countries  where  the 
Chinese  have  been  established,  there  exists  a  considerable  Creole 
population  of  this  description,  such  as  Java,  Siam,  Cochin  China,  and 
the  Philippines.  But  in  countries  where  they  have  been  only 
recently  established,  the  disproportion  of  the  sex  is  immense.  Thus, 
out  of  the  6,200  Chinese  inhabitants  of  Sincapore,  the  number  of 
females  is  about  360,  and  even  of  these  the  greater  part  are  Chinese 
only  by  name.  The  extent  of  the  annual  emigrations  from  China 
may  be  judged  from  the  fact,  that  the  number  which  arrived  at  Sin- 
capore in  1825  amounted  to  above  3,500;  and  in  1826,  to  upwards 
of  5,500.  The  annual  number  of  emigrants  which  arrived  in  Siam, 
was  rated  to  me,  when  I  was  in  that  country,  at  7,000.  A  single 
junk  has  been  known  to  bring  1,200  passengers  ;  indeed,  I  have  my- 
self seen  one  bring  900  to  Sincapore.  The  number  who  return  to 
China  is  considerable,  but  very  small  indeed  in  comparison  to  the 
arrivals.  Even  of  these  the  greater  number  come  back  again  ;  and 
I  have  known  men  of  property,  who  have  visited  China,  and  returned 
with  titles." 

44 


No.  II. 

proofs    of    the    rapidity   with   which   waste  land  rises   in 
valve,  wherever  people  congregate,  in  new  colonies. 

Mr.  Stuart. 

"The  population  of  Troy  has  increased  from  3,000  in  1810,  to 
12,000  in  1830.  Property  is  very  valuable.  A  tenement  65  feet 
by  25  feet,  was  pointed  out  to  me  as  having  been  lately  sold  for 
4,000  dollars." 

"  Mr.  Sloat  has  lately  sold  200  acres  of  wood-land  (near  New- 
burg  on  the  Hudson),  which  he  bought  from  the  state  in  1801  for 
50  cents  the  acre,  at  an  immense  advance." 

"  Colonel  Colman  gives  a  very  favourable  account  of  Florida, 
where  the  soil  is  good  by  the  river  side.  He  himself  has  purchased 
900  acres  on  the  banks  of  the  Apalachicola,  all  of  excellent  land, 
for  which  he  paid  9,000  dollars." 

(On  the  Mississippi  about  300  miles  from  New  Orleans)  "  we 
had  excellent  buttermilk  at  one  of  our  stopping  places  for  wood, 
occupied  by  a  tenant,  who  pays  4  dollars  an  acre  of  yearly  rent  for 
a  few  acres  of  ground." 

"  In  many  places  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  a  great  deal  of  fine 
alluvial  land,  which,  I  was  informed,  sold  for  10  or  12  dollars  per 
acre." 

"Large  fortunes  have  been  made  (at  Rochester,  which  in  1818 
contained  1,000  inhabitants,  and  in  1828,  13,000)  by  the  purchase 
and  side  of  building  lots." 

"A  million  of  acres,  which  are  rapidly  increasing  in  value." 

"The  appropriation  of  land  for  schools,  many  of  which  have 
become  very  valuable." 

"  Real  property  of  all  kinds  at  New-York  brings  great  prices. 
The  site  of  a  house,  at  the  corner  of  two  central  streets,  29  feet  in 
one  street  and  130  in  the  other,  was  lately  sold  for  38,100 
dollars." 

"  To  those  who  would  purchase  land  with  a  view  to  profit,  I  would 
rather  recommend  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  within  80  or  50  miles 
of  V  iw  STork,  where  the  farmers  have  succeeded  in  establishing 
steamboats,  to  carry  their  produce  daily  to  the  city.n 

•■  It  may,  however,  be  worth  while  to  mention,  that  plenty  of  im- 
proved  Land  is  to  be  had  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cincinnati,  vary- 
ing in  price  according  to  its  distance  from  the  town" 

••In    fact,  the   extent    of  country    winch   the   I  nitcd   States    have 

acquired  Bince  the  treat}  of  L 78 3,  far  exceeds  three  hundred  millions 

of  acres  in  the  verj   heari  of  their  territory,  besides  the  boundless 

.  i  he  north  and  north-west     A  greal  proportion  of  this  pro- 

digio  'i   Land  r< ns  with  the  general  government,  and 


APPENDIX,  NO.  II. 


347 


must  in  the  course  of  years  produce  to  the  United  States  some 
thousand  millioris  of  dollars."* 

The  Reverend  J.  Fidler, 
Author  of  Observations  on  the  United  States  and  Canada. 

"  The  value  of  land  in  Canada  is  increasing  regularly  and  rapidly. 
For  instance,  Younge-street  was  settled  thirty-seven  years  ago.  At 
that  time  land  on  it  was  given  to  any  one  who  applied.  A  few  years 
after  land  was  worth  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  dollars.  A  lot  of 
about  two  hundred  acres  is  now  worth  from  1,000Z.  to  2,000Z.  on 
many  parts  of  Younge-street.  In  the  beautiful  township  of  Oro, 
lately  settled,  land  a  short  time  ago  was  one  dollar  per  acre  :  it  is 
now  worth  from  four  to  five,  and  increases  in  value  from  half  a  dollar 
to  a  dollar  every  year.  On  the  Huron  tract,  it  is  now  selling  at  from 
one  to  two  dollars.  Emigration  is  setting  in  that  way  ;  and  the 
probable  consequence  will  be  that  land  there,  in  two  or  three  years, 
will  be  double  that  sum.  Land  has  generally  been  found  to  double 
itself  every  three  or  four  years." 

"  In  the  towns  of  Kingston,  Brockville,  &c.  land  is  almost  as  high 
as  in  many  parts  of  England ;  while  at  a  small  distance  from  these 
towns  it  can  be  purchased,  usually  good,  at  two  or  three  dollars. 
In  York-town,  an  acre  is  sometimes  worth  1,000/.  or  1,200Z.  A 
little  remove  from  this,  uncleared  land  is  worth  six  or  eight  dollars ; 
and  a  few  miles  further  off,  not  perhaps  above  two  dollars.  If  rail- 
roads be  formed,  plans  of  which  have  been  laid  before  the  legislature, 
and  acts  passed  to  legalize  them,  the  land  now  selling  at  two  dollars 
would  soon  be  worth  10/. 

Communicated  by  Mr.  Cattermole,  of  York,  Upper  Canada,  and 
published  in  an  Account  of  the  South  Australian  Land  Company. 

"  When  the  town  of  York  was  founded,  much  of  the  contiguous 
land  was  given  away  to  favourites,  who  expected  that  the  increase 
of  population  by  natural  means,  and  by  immigration,  would  give  it 
value.  They  have  not  been  disappointed.  A  person  named  Elmsley 
possessed  some  of  this  land,  and  when  King's  College  was  founded, 
the  site  (about  five  acres)  was  purchased  by  government  of  Mr.  Elm- 
sley for  1,200/.  Fifteen  years  previously,  this  land  would  not  have 
sold  for  two  dollars  per  acre." 

"  Mr.  John  Masson,  a  tinman,  living  in  King-street,  York,  took  in 
1830,  a  lease  for  21  years,  of  a  piece  of  land  in  York,  measuring  23 
feet  in  front  by  80  feet  deep,  at  a  ground  rent  of  17/.  10s.  currency, 
per  annum ;  and  on  40  feet  being  added  to  the  depth,  the  ground 
rent  was  raised  to  22Z.  per  annum.  Fifteen  years  before,  this  land 
would  not  have  sold  for  more  than  three  or  four  dollars  per  acre." 

"  Mr.  Francis  Collins,  editor  of  the  Canadian  Freeman,  purchased 
by  public  auction  in  July,  1831,  a  quarter  of  an  acre  of  waste  land 
in  York  for  600/.  currency." 

*  Say  one  thousand  millions  of  pounds  sterling  ;  or  more,  by  a  fourth,  than 
the  English  national  debt. 


348  APPENDIX,  NO.  II. 

"Mr.  M'Cullum  sold  in  July,  1831,  a  village  lot,  situated  on  Dun- 
das-street,  nineteen  miles  from  York,  at  the  rate  of  300/.  per  acre 
of  currency." 

"  In  the  last  seventeen  years,  the  land  within  fourteen  miles  of  the 
Erie  canal  has  risen  from  twenty-five  cents  (quarter  of  a  dollar)  to 
sixteen  dollars." 

Mr.  Pickering  (late  of  Fenny  Stratford), 
Author  of  the  Emigrant's  Guide  to  Canada,  1830. 

"Been  to  ask  the  price  of  land  to  rent  (near  Baltimore,  U.  S.). 
One  lot  of  fifty  acres,  only  half  cleared,  four  miles  from  town,  eigh- 
teen shillings  per  acre  per  annum  :  another  of  rich  meadow  land, 
several  miles  off,  near  the  river,  I  was  asked  twelve  dollars  or  21. 
14*.  per  acre  rent." 

"  Building  lots  of  land  (in  York),  within  the  last  year  or  two,  have 
risen  in  value  very  fast,  on  account  of  the  seat  of  government  being 
decided  to  remain  here  for  some  years  to  come." 

"  Niagara  to  Queen's-town,  and  indeed  round  the  head  of  the  lake 
to  Dundas,  Ancaster,  and  Hamilton,  a  fine  country,  genial  air,  healthy, 
well  watered  and  settled,  land  is  from  thirty  shillings  to  41.  16s. 
per  acre." 

"  Farms  sell  here  (on  the  banks  of  the  Detroit  river)  from  forty- 
five  shillings  to  3/.  10*.  per  acre:  a  house  and  some  buildings  in- 
cluded." 

Mr.  Wentworth  (of  New  South  Wales), 
Author  of  an  Account  of  Australasia.      1823. 

"  The  price  of  land,  it  is  almost  needless  to  observe,  is  entirely 
regulated  by  its  situation  and  quality.  In  the  towns,  it  is  as  various 
as  in  the  country  ;  nor  is  there  any  place  in  which  the  variation  in 
value  is  so  great  as  in  the  town  of  Sydney  itself.  There  it  ranges 
from  50/.  an  acre  to  1,000/." 

"With  respect  to  the  value  of  what  is  termed  forest  land,  when 
in  a  state  of  nature,  and  not  possessing  any  advantageous  locality,  it 
may  generally  be  taken  thus  :  In  the  county  of  Cumberland"  (the 
county  in  which  Sydney  is  placed),  "  fifteen  shillings  per  acre  ;  in 
the  county  of  Camden,  including  the  district  of  Qlawarra,  or  Five 
Islands"  (farther  from  market),  "  tea  shillings  per  acre  ;  on  the  banks 
of  the  Coal  River"  (still  farther  from  market),  "five  shillings  per 
acre  :  in  parts  more  remote,  two  shillings  and  sixpence  per  acre." 

"  In  the  course  of  thirty  years,  the  tract  of  land  in  question  (the 
banks  of  the  Hawkesbury),  taking  the  unimproved  land  as  our  crite- 
rion, has  evidently  risen  to  this  enormous  price  from  having  been  of 
no  value  whatever;  <>r,  in  other  words,  each  acre  of  land  has  in- 
ed  in  value,  during  the  interval  which  has  elapsed  since  the 
foundation  of  the  colony,  at  the  rate  of  three  shillings  and  2  .',</.  per 
annum;  and  thai  too,  tinder  the  most  impolitic  and  oppressive 
system  (of government)  to  which  any  colony  perhaps  was  ever  sub- 
jected." 


APPENDIX,  NO.  II.  3  1 9 

Mr.  Boucher  (of  New  South  Wales), 
Communicated  to  Mr.  Robert  Gouger. 

"In  the  year  1831,  Mr.  Wentworth  sold  near  two  acres  of  land, 
situated  in  the  main  street,  and  near  the  king's  wharf  custom-house, 
Sydney,  for  7,800/.,  the  whole  of  which, ten  years  previously,  might 
have  been  bought  for  350/." 

"In  1828,  Mr.  Unwina  bought  six  acres  of  land  on  the  Surrey 
Hills,  about  one  mile  from  Sydney,  for  650/. ;  and  in  1830  the  same 
land  was  resold  for  1,800/." 

"In  1829,  Mr.  Bettington  purchased  a  piece  of  land  situated  at 
Cockle  Bay,  Sydney,  comprising  a  frontage  of  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  feet,  and  a  depth  of  about  two  hundred  feet,  adapted  for  a 
wharf,  &c.  for  609'.  This  land  in  1831  would  have  realized,  ex- 
clusive of  the  buildings,  about  2,000/." 

"In  1830,  Mr.  Simeon  Lord  received  from  the  local  government 
6,000/.  as  an  arbitration  award  for  about  two  acres  of  land  situated 
near  Government  House,  Sydney.  He  would  gladly  have  sold  it 
ten  years  previously  for  250/.  or  300/." 

"  Early  in  1828,  Madame  Kens  bought  at  auction  a  piece  of  ground 
in  the  main  street  of  Sydney,  on  the  site  of  the  old  Orphan  School, 
comprising  a  frontage  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  and  depth  of 
eighty  feet,  for  1,200/. ;  and  in  1829  sold  half  of  the  same  plot  to 
Mr.  Horton  James  for  1,800/." 

"  In  the  latter  end  of  1827,  Messrs.  Cooper  and  Levey  purchased 
from  Captain  Piper,  for  25,000/.  the  estate  of  Point  Piper,  situated 
four  miles  from  Sydney  town.  This  estate  consisted  of  five  hun- 
dred acres  of  land,  having  an  extensive  frontage  to  part  of  Sydney 
harbour,  with  a  large  house,  pleasure-grounds,  &c.  It  would  now 
readily  fetch  150,000/.,  if  divided  into  allotments  of  two  or  three 
acres  each  (for  villas),  and  sold  by  auction  at  a  moderate  credit." 

"  Building  allotments  in  Sydney  town,  in  a  fair  situation,  compri- 
sing a  frontage  of  sixty  feet  and  a  depth  of  eighty  feet,  could  be 
readily  purchased  in  1825  for  from  70/.  to  150/.  In  1830  they 
usually  brought  at  auction  from  600/.  to  1,500/.,  according  to  their 
situation." 

"  On  the  Paramatta  road,  at  from  two  to  five  miles  from  Sydney, 
land,  having  a  frontage  to  the  road,  could  be  purchased  in  1825  for  5/. 
to  12/.  per  acre:  it  now  fetches  from  30/.  to  150/.  per  acre." 

"On  the  South  Head  Road,  at  from  one  to  three  miles  from  Syd- 
ney, similar  land  could  have  been  bought  for  3/.  to  10/.  per  acre: 
it  now  fetches  from  30/.  to  100/.  per  acre." 

"  In  the  township  of  Maitland,  Hunter's  River  (seventy  miles  from 
Sydney),  uncleared  land  could  be  readily  purchased  for  1  .  or  2  .  per 
acre  in  1825 :  it  is  now  worth  from  5/.  to  100/.  per  acre,  according 
to  situation." 

"Land  having  a  frontage  to  the  main  road,  in  Maitland,  and  not 
far  from  the  court-house,  is  now  sold  for  building  on  at  from  30/.  to 
150/.  per  acre,  which  in  1825  would  not  have  produced  from  3/.  to 
5/.  per  acre." 


350  APPENDIX,  NO.  II. 

"  In  1827,  Mr.  John  Smith  purchased  a  small  farm  of  sixty  acres 
from  Mr.  Allen,  situated  near  the  town  of  Maitland,  Hunter's  River, 
for  250/.  This  farm  has  a  frontage  to  the  main  road  of  about  ten 
acres  ;  and  these  ten  acres  would  now  sell  for  1,200/.,  or  120/. 
each." 

From  Mr.  Curr's  Account  of  Van  Dieman's  Lared.     1824. 

"  The  value  of  uncultivated  land  in  the  colony  varies  much  accord- 
ing to  situation  and  quality.  Until  of  late,  grants  of  land  were  sold 
and  exchanged  very  currently,  without  being  actually  located  by  the 
settler  (buyer) :  and-  the  price  varies  from  ten  to  twenty  shillings  per 
acre." 

"  The  rent  of  houses  in  Hobart's-town  is  very  high.  A  cottage, 
consisting  of  four  to  six  rooms,  lets  for  60/.,  70/.  and  80/.  per  annum  : 
a  house  of  two  floors,  containing  eight  or  ten  rooms,  for  120/.  to  150/. 
per  annum :  and  if  in  an  advantageous  situation,  200/.  will  be  given 
for  it." 

"  Farms  are  very  frequently  rented  in  Van  Dieman's  Land." 

"  Other  persons  are  induced  to  make  unequal  exchanges  :  giving 
their  uncultivated  lands  for  smaller  farms  in  more  populous  sit- 
uations." 

Captain  Sutherland, 
Communicated  to  the  South  Australian  Land  Company. 

"  Captain  Sutherland,  twelve  years  ago,  received  from  Governor 
Macquarie  a  grant  of  one  thousand  acres,  within  four  miles  of  Laun- 
ceston,  in  Van  Dieman's  Land.  He  has  expended  upon  it  no  money 
whatever  in  roads,  buildings,  or  other  improvements.  Being  obliged, 
however,  to  stock  it,  he  expended  200/.  in  horned  cattle  and  sheep, 
and  put  them  upon  it.  It  is  now  worth  21.  per  acre  ;  the  value  being 
given  by  the  increase  of  population  in  the  neighbourhood." 

"  Captain  Barclay  received  at  the  same  time  with  Captain 
Sutherland  a  free  grant  of  four  thousand  acres  of  land,  about  seven 
miles  from  Launceston:  He  has  expended  in  building  and  improve- 
ments about  4,000/. ;  and  he  has  let  it  on  lease  for  ten  years  at  1000/. 
a  year." 

Practical  Notes  made  (hiring  a  Tour  in  ( 'anada  in  1831,  by  Adam 
I  i  k<;i  bson,  of  Woodhill. 

•■  Much  baa  beep  said  of  the  rapid  advances  which  the  Upper 
Province  is  making,  and  of  the  rising  value  of  property  there.  I  was 
told  of  a  case  which  occurred  about  thirty  years  ago,  where  a  lieu- 
tenant in  the  army,  being  601.  in  airear  to  a  Montreal  merchant, 
insisted,  along  with  his  promissory  note,  on  handing  over  a  lot  of 
land  assigned  to  biro  Bomewhere  in  the  then  Western  wilderness,  a 
iiiv  which  the  poor  merchant  regarded  as  much  upon  a  par 

with  the  subaltern's  note,  who  was  about  to  leave  Canada  to  join  his 
regiment.     The  allotment  consisted  of  one  thousand  two  hundred 


APPENDIX,  NO.  II.  351 

and  fifty  acres  upon  the  Lake  Ontario,  of  which  seven  hundred  were 
sold  last  year  for  seven  hundred  pounds,  and^/z're  hundred  and  fifty 
acres  of  the  best  quality  reserved.  Such  are  the  changes  which 
time  effects,  without  the  aid  of  any  other  agent,  and  such  cases,  I 
was  assured,  are  by  no  means  rare."  Page  69. 

"  Emigrants,  unable  or  unwilling  to  purchase,  will  have  little  diffi- 
culty in  providing  themselves  with  a  farm  to  rent,  either  for  money 
or  on  shares,  which  means  half  the  clear  produce  as  rent.  I 
was  told  by  a  gentleman  of  a  friend  of  his,  who  was  very  comfort- 
ably settled  in  this  way  near  York,  upon  a  farm  of  two  hundred 
acres.  Eighty  acres  are  cleared,  the  remainder  in  wood  pasture. 
He  pays  only  25/.  of  rent,  and  clears  200/.  per  annum,  besides  keep- 
ing his  family. 

"  To  show  how  land  is  advancing  in  value,  this  farm,  a  few  years 
ago,  might  have  been  purchased  for  200/.,  but  is  of  course  worth  a 
great  deal  more  now."  Page  275. 

"  In  the  afternoon  we  reached  Brandtford,  a  pretty  considerable 
village,  belonging  to  the  Indians,  a  tract  of  land  in  this  quarter  having 
been  reserved  for  their  behalf.  It  is  managed  by  government,  who 
account  for  rents  and  sales  to  the  chiefs.  There  had  been  a  sale  of 
village  lots  this  day,  and  for  the  first  time  I  saw  the  Indians  assem- 
bled in  any  numbers.  The  lots  sold  for  25/.,  one-fourth  of  an  acre, 
which  is  an  immense  price  in  Canada,  and  argues  an  expectation  of 
Brandtford  continuing  to  prosper."  Page  286. 

M  The  first  farm  which  I  visited  was  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
Albany,  forming  part  of  the  princely  estate  of  Mr.  Van  Rensselaer. 
It  contained  six  hundred  acres  of  fine  mellow  loam  along  the  banks 
of  the  river,  divided  into  fields  by  rail-fences,  which  cost  here  4s.  6d. 
for  sixteen  feet,  including  boards,  nails,  and  work  ;  four  rails  and 
about  five  feet  high. 

"  The  farm  was  let  some  years  ago  at  two  thousand  dollars,  or 
450/.,  which,  in  America,  seems  to  be  a  very  high  rent ;  but  it  must 
be  recollected  that  its  situation  is  particularly  favourable  from  its 
close  contact  with  the  thriving  city  of  Albany."  Page  293. 

In  the  year  1817,  Mr.  Robert  Gourlay*  circulated  through  Canada 
a  number  of  queries,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  facts  relative 
to  the  state  of  that  colony,  among  which  the  following  question  was 
submitted. — "  the  price  of  wild  land  at  the  first  settlement 

OF  THE  TOWNSHIP  ;  ITS  PROGRESSIVE  RISE  AND  PRESENT  PRICE  ; 
ALSO  OF  LAND  SO  FAR  CLEARED  ;  STATING  CIRCUMSTANCES  AS  TO 
BUILDINGS,  PROPORTION  CLEARED,  OR  PECULIARITY,  IF  ANY,  OF 
LOCAL  SITUATION  ;  REFERRING  IN  EVERY  INSTANCE  TO  ACTUAL 
SALES  ?" 

This  question  was  answered  by  committees  formed  from  among 
the  resident  owners  in  various  townships.     The  answers  follow  : — 

*  See  Gourlay's  Historical  Account  of  Upper  Canada,  vo!  i.,  page  269, 
et  seq. 


352  APPENDIX,  XO.   II. 

TOWNSHIP    OP    SANDWICH.  IN    THE    WESTERN    DISTRICT, 

Settlement  commenced  in  1750,  and  contains  at  present  (1817)  about 
1,000  souls. 

"The  price  of  wild  land  about  twenty  years  ago  was  Is.  3d.  to 
2s.  6d.  per  acre,  and  its  progressive  rise  about  2*.  6d.  for  every  five 
years.  The  present  price  of  land  is  from  10*.  to  15*.,  except  in 
particular  situations,  such  as  lie  on  the  strait.  No  lands  have 
been  recently  sold  in  the  township  ;  the  settlement  has  long  been  at 
a  stand.  Improved  farms  on  the  border  of  the  strait,  with  a  com- 
mon farm-house,  barn,  and  out-houses,  orchard,  and  about  fifty  acres 
within  fence,  would  rate  from  21.  10s.  to  61.  5s.  per  acre,  and  more, 
according  to  the  situation  and  value  of  the  improvements." 

TOWNSHIP    OF    WALDEN,    IN    THE    WESTERN    DISTRICT, 

Settlement  commenced  in  1784  ;  p?'cscnt  population  675  persons. 
"At  first  settlement  the  price  of  land  was  from  1*.  to  3*.  per 
acre  ;  the  present  price  is  25,?.  per  acre  ;  some  land,  partly  cleared, 
has  been  lately  sold  at  40s.  per  acre. 

TOWNSHIP    OF    RALEIGH,    WESTERN    DISTRICT, 

Settlement  commenced  in  1792;  present  population  273  persons. 

"  At  the  commencement  of  the  settlement,  lots  of  two  hundred 
acres,  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames,  were  sold  at  25/.  In 
1804  they  sold  for  131/.  5s.  The  same  lands  are  now  selling  for 
250/.  without  improvements.  Back  lands  of  the  best  quality  may 
be  fairly  estimated  at  one-third  of  these  prices. 

TOWNSHIPS  OF  DOVER,  EAST  AND  WEST    CHATHAM,    CAMDEN,  OXFORD, 
HOWARD,  AND  HARWICH,  ON    THE    RIVER    THAMES. 

Settlement  commenced  in  1794  ;  inhabited  houses  133. 

"  Some  farms  in  good  local  situations,  with  tolerable  buildings 
and  orchards  thereon,  well  cultivated,  containing  two  hundred  acres 
of  land,  sold  for  690/.  The  average  price  of  lands  from  the  first 
settlement  of  these  townships,  was  from  2s.  Od.  to  20s.  per  acre." 

TOWNSHIPS  OF  DORCIIFSTI-.U,  DELAWARE,  AND  WESTMINSTER,  ON  THE 

UI\  BR      I  IIA.Ml.S. 

"  The  flats  on  the  Thames  have  always  sold  high,  and  arc  now 
worth  '.il.  per  arrr." 

TOWNSHIP    OP    OXFORD,    IN    Tin:    LONDON    DIBTRICT. 

"A  two  hundred  acre  lot,  with  thirty  acres  cultivated  land,  a  log 
house  ami  frame  bam  thirty  by  forty  feet,  is  worth  500/." 

TOWNSHIP  OF    WINDHAM,    IN    THE    LONDON    DISTRICT. 

"At  our  first  settlement,  wild  land  sold  for  5s.  per  acre;   at  prcs- 


APPENDIX,  NO.  Hi  353 

ent  the  wild  land  in  the  unsettled  parts  of  the  township  will  sell  for 
10*.  per  acre;  but  there  is  wild  land  in  the  settlement  that  cannot 
be  bought  for  1/.  5*.  per  acre  ;  and  some  improved  farms  are  held 
at  3/.  15*.  per  acre,  where  there  is  not  above  sixty  acres  improved  ; 
but  there  have  been  actual  sales  of  farms  from  1/.  5s.  to  3/.  per 
acre,  according  to  the  improvement  made  in  them." 

TOWNSHIP    OF   CHARLOTTEVILLE,  IN  THE    LONDON    DISTRICT. 

"  About  the  first  settlement  of  the  township,  land  sold  for  5*.  per 
acre,  but  will  now  average  about  1/.  A  farm  of  two  hundred  acres 
of  land,  with  a  log-house  and  barn,  with  fifty  acres  cleared  and 
fenced,  and  a  small  orchard  of  bearing  trees,  might  be  purchased  for 
about  700/.  and  occasionally  less." 

TOWNSHIP    OF    NORWICH,    IN    THE    LONDON    DISTRICT. 

A  few  families  arrived  in  1808,  but  very  little  progress  was  made 

till  1811. 

"  About  6s.  3d.  was  at  our  commencement  the  price  of  land,  and 
has  progressively  risen  in  value  to  13*.  per  acre ;  one  sale  lately 
made  of  an  improvement,  one  hundred  acres,  thirty-five  cleared, 
frame  barn,  log-house,  good  fence,  price  375/." 

TOWNSHIPS    OF    WEST  FLAMBORO,    AND    BEVERLY,    GORE    DISTRICT. 

"Wild  lands,  at  first  settling,  sold  for  10/.  two  hundred  acres; 
and  now  sell  from  10*.  to  1/.  10*.  and  21.  per  acre.  Cleared  land 
sells  from  21.  to  12/.  10*.  per  acre,  according  to  its  situation  and 
advantages." 

TOWNSHIP    OF    ANCASTER,    IN    THE    GORE     DISTRICT. 

"  Wild  lands  at  the  first  settling  of  this  township  sold  at  6/.  5*. 
per  lot  of  two  hundred  acres;  now  sell  from  12*.  6d.  to  1/.  10*. 
and  5/.  per  acre.  Cleared  lands  sell  from  21.  10*.  to  12/.  10*.  per 
acre,  according  to  its  situation  and  advantages. 

TOWNSHIP    OF   BARTON,  IN    THE   GORE    DISTRICT. 

"In  1792,  land  sold  at  1*.  3d.  per  acre;  in  1800,  5*.;  in  1806, 
15*.;  in  1810,  1/.  10*.;  in  1817,  about  21.  10*.  On  an  average 
about  5/.  per  acre,  for  an  improved  farm  of  two  hundred  acres,  with 
small  farms,  or  log-house  and  barn,  and  other  out-houses.  Improved 
farms  have  sold  from  61.  5*.  to  71.  10s.  per  acre." 

TOWNSHIP    OF    SALTFLEET    IN    THE    GORE    DISTRICT. 

"  The  price  of  new  land  in  this  township,  at  the  first  settlement 
thereof,  rated  so  low  as  to  make  it  no  object  with  many.  A  lot  of 
one  hundred  acres  might  be  purchased  for  51.  to  61.  5s.,  and  large 
quantities  were  actually  bought  and  sold  at  these  prices :  it  has 

45 


354  APPENDIX,  NO.  II. 

gradually  rose  from  that  time  to  the  year  1812,  since  which  time  it 
seems  stationary  for  want  of  purchasers.  But  the  average  price 
of  wild  land  may  be  rated  at  1Z.  5s.  per  acre.  A  farm  of 
about  three  hundred  acres  of  land,  one  third  cleared,  and  a  comfort- 
able house  and  good  barn,  with  a  bearing  orchard  of  one  or  two 
hundred  apple  trees,  the  whole  premises  being  in  good  repair,  may 
be  purchased  from  1,000/.  to  1,500/.  according  to  situation.  A  farm 
nearly  answering  to  this  description  was  actually  sold  for  the  highest 
sum  here  mentioned." 

TOWNSHIP    OF    HUMBERSTON,    NIAGARA    DISTRICT. 

"  At  the  first  settlement,  when  much  land  was  held  on  location 
tickets,  lots  of  two  hundred  acres  could  be  bought  for  twenty  dollars. 
The  price  has  gradually  increased,  and  of  late  years  sales  have 
been  effected  at  2^  dollars  per  acre." 

TOWNSHIP    OF    AVILLOUGHBY,    IN    THE    NIAGARA    DISTRICT, 

Surveyed  and  laid  out  by  order  of  government  in  1787. 

"A  farm  of  two  hundred  acres,  one  half  under  cultivation,  with 
tolerable  farm  buildings  and  orchard,  now  sells  for  625/.  to  700/. 
Farms,  however,  upon  the  Niagara  or  Chippewa  rivers,  will  sell 
much  higher,  according  to  their  situation." 

TOWNSHIP    OF    GRANTHAM,    IN    THE     NIAGARA    DISTRICT. 

"Farms  of  two  hundred  acres,  situate  on  the  most  public  roads, 
of  a  good  quality,  comfortable  house,  good  barn,  orchard,  &c.  from 
one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  improved,  will  sell  for 
6/.  to  71.  10*.  per  acre.  Farms  of  one  hundred  acres,  small  house 
and  barn,  sixty  acres  improved,  will  sell  from  5/.  to  6/.  per  acre. 
Lands  in  the  village  of  St.  Catharine  (the  only  one  in  township),  in 
1809-10  and  11,  sold  for  6/.  5s.  per  acre,  now  sell  from  30/.  to 
200/.  for  building  lots." 

TOWNSHIP    OF    PELHAM,    NIAGARA    DISTRICT. 

"  When  the  settlement  of  this  township  commenced,  wild  land 
was  selling  at  6/.  10*.  for  one  hundred  acres  ;  in  the  year  1800,  at 
10*.  per  acre  ;  the  present  price  is  40*.  per  acre." 

TOWNSHIP    OS    ("ROWLAND,    NIAGARA    DISTRICT. 

UA  farm  of  one  hundred  acres,  nearly  contiguous  to  mills,  with 
about  forty  acres  cleared,  and  very  neat  buildings,  was  sold   for 

:',!•;/.  io.y." 

TOWNSHIP    OF    HAI.DIMAN,    NEWCASTLE    DISTRK   I  . 

Settlement  commenced  in  17D7. 
"  At  the  first  settlement  of  the  township,  lands  were  worth  5*. 


APPENDIX,  NO.  II.  355 

per  acre;  at  the  present  time,  in  good  situations,  15*.  and  in  ordi- 
nary situations,  10*.  per  acre." 

TOWNSHIP    OF    KINGSTON,    MIDLAND    DISTRICT, 

Settlement  commenced  in  1783 ;  population,  including  the  town  of 
Kingston,  2,850. 

"  Few  or  no  actual  purchases  of  land  were  made  by  the  original 
settlers,  as  their  situation  entitled  them  to  grants  from  government. 

Farms  of  two  hundred  acres,  with  perhaps  sixty  or 

eighty  acres  cleared,  with  a  house  and  barn,  and  within  a  range  of 
ten  miles  of  the  town,  may  be  worth  from  21.  to  51.  per  acre." 

"At  the  first  settlement,  many  persons  sold  their  two  hundred 
acre  lots  for  the  value  of  a  few  shillings ;  twelve  years  ago,  land' a 
few  miles  from  Kingston  sold  for  2s.  6d.  per  acre;  and  lately,  in 
the  same  situations,  from  30*.  to  40*. ;  but  the  fire-wood  alone  will 
soon  be  worth  as  much  as  that  per  acre." 

TOWNSHIP  OF  EARNEST  TOWN,  IXC  TAPING  AMHERST  ISLAND,  MIDLAND 

DISTRICT. 

"  At  the  first  settlement  the  value  of  wild  lands  was  merely  nomi- 
nal. They  have  progressively  risen,  and  their  present  price  may 
be  computed  at  1/.  5s.  per  acre.  The  average  price  of  one  hundred 
acres  of  land,  one  half  improved,  with  tolerable  buildings  thereon, 
may  be  valued  at  31.  per  acre." 

TOWNSHIP    OF    ADOLPHUS    TOWN,    MIDLAND    DISTRICT. 

"  At  the  first  settlement  of  this  township,  land  could  be  purchased 
at  1*.  per  acre.  It  rose  gradually  to  5s.,  10s.,  15s.,  20*.,  &c.  At 
this  moment  there  is  no  land  in  the  township  could  be  procured  for 
less  than  41.  per  acre,  and  it  is  believed  few  would  sell  at  that 
price." 

TOWNSHIP    OF    SOPHIASBERG,    MIDLAND    DISTRICT. 

"At  the  first  settlement,  land  was  about  1*.  per  acre;  there  is 
little  wild  land  for  sale  here ;  best  sales  made  from  three  to  five 
dollars  per  acre." 

TOWNSHIP    OF    LANSDOWN,    JOHNSTOWN    DISTRICT, 

Settlement  commenced  in  1788. 

"  Price  of  wild  land,  at  the  first  settlement,  it  was  sold  at  5/.  for 
two  hundred  acres,  and  has  gradually  risen  in  value  to  one  dollar 
per  acre,  at  a  distance  from  the  settlement ;  but  on  the  road  or  river 
it  may  be  valued  at  three  dollars  per  acre,  and  that  without  any  im- 
provement ;  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  from  three  to  six  dollars  per 
acre." 


356  APPENDIX,  NO.  II. 

TOWNSHIP    OP    CHARLOTTEXBURGH,    EASTERN    DISTRICT, 

Settlement  commenced  in  1784. 

"  The  price  of  wild  land,  for  the  first  period,  say  six  years  of  the 
settlement,  was  from  1*.  to  5s.  per  acre  ;  and  at  present,  is  from  20*. 
to  30*.  the  acre.  A  lot  of  two  hundred  acres,  with  thirty  acres 
cleared,  under  good  cultivation,  with  a  farm-house  and  barn  with 
sheds,  <fec.  is  worth  from  500/.  to  600/. 

Travels  in  America  in  the  years  1794,   1795,  and  1796,  by  the 
Duke  of  llochefoucault  Liancourt. 

Vol.  1.  p.  6.  Land  in  this  neighbourhood  (Philadelphia)  is  worth 
eighty  dollars  per  acre  ;  six  years  ago  it  was  only  worth  forty-two. 

Vol.  1.  p.  77.  General  Haud  bought  five  years  ago  the  estate 
on  which  he  resides,  two  miles  from  the  town,  for  twenty-five  dollars 
per  acre ;  and  has  lately  refused  one  hundred  dollars,  which  were 
offered  him.  The  price  of  land  has  risen  in  the  same  proportion 
throughout  America,  as  land  in  the  cultivated  parts. 

Vol.  1.  p.  98.  The  price  of  ground-shares  in  the  town  of  Har- 
risburg  (founded  eight  years  before)  is  from  one  hundred  and  fifty 
to  two  hundred  dollars  per  acre,  the  land  in  the  surrounding  country 
is  from  thirty-two  to  forty-eight  dollars  per  acre. 

Vol.  1.  p.  195.  The  inhabitants  only  settled  here  (Painted-post, 
State  of  New-York)  four  years  ago.  The  soil  is  good,  especially 
near  the  town,  where  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  dollars  is  the  price  for 
an  acre. 

Vol.  1.  p.  261.  Metcalf,  three  years  ago,  purchased  his  estate 
for  1*.  per  acre:  of  the  thousand  acres  he  then  bought,  he  has 
already  sold  five  hundred  and  upwards,  at  from  one  to  three  dollars 
per  acre,  and  some  have  fetched  twenty-five  dollars.  The  profits 
which  are  made  by  speculations  in  land,  all  over  America,  and 
especially  in  this  neighbourhood  (Gennessee),  are  great  beyond  cal- 
culation. 

Vol.  2.  p.  10.  W.  Shorten  bought  his  estate  here  (Oswego) 
three  years  ago,  at  3d.  per  acre,  and  can  now  sell  it  for  12.?.:  only 
ten  acres  are  cleared. 

Vol.  2.  p.  39.  The  land  here  (Schuylerton),  which  in  1785  cost 
a  few  pence  per  acre,  and  three  years  ago  not  more  than  five  dollars, 
is  now  sold,  not  merely  in  the  vicinity  of  the  town,  but  also  fifteen 
miles  beyond  it,  for  nineteen  or  twenty  dollars  per  acre. 

Vol.  3.  p.  212.  The  settlement  of  the  country  between  Har- 
per's Ferry  aud  Coosooky  Mountains  is  just  beginning.  Land 
fetches  from  seven  to  eight  dollars  tin;  acre. 

Vol.  4.  p.  161.  Pelvidere  consists  of  about  twenty  houses,  but 
the  number  of  inhabitants  is  annually  increasing,  and  the  neighbour- 
hood is  populous.  The  lands  in  the  neighbourhood  are  sold  at  from 
forty  to  forty-eight  dollars  the  acre.  The  town  lots,  which  are  a 
quarter  of  an  acre,  being  at  present  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  dollars 


No.  III. 

PART*  OF  A  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  THE  ENGLISH  GOVERN- 
MENT AND  A  BODY  OF  INDIVIDUALS  DESIROUS  TO  FOUND^  A 
COLONY. 

PROVISIONAL    COMMITTEE 

Of  the  South  Australian  Land  Company. 

W.  Wolryche  Whitmore,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Chairman. 

George  Fife  Angas,  Esq.  W.  A.  MacKinnon,  Esq.,  M.P. 

Dominic  Browne,  Esq.,  M.P.  J.  A.  S.  Mackenzie,  Esq.,  M.P. 

H.  L.  Bulwer,  Esq.,  M.P.  Samuel  Mills,  Esq. 
Walter  F.  Campbell,  Esq.,  M.P.   John  Melville,  Esq. 

Henry  Drummond,  Esq.  Sir  R.  Mnsgrave,  Bart.,  M.P. 

Captain  Cowan.  Richard  Norman,  Esq. 

Richard  Heathfield,  Esq,  J.  E.  Strickland,  Esq. 

Samuel  Hoare,  Esq.  Colonel  Torrens,  M.P. 

William  Hutt,  Esq.  George  Trail,  Esq.,  M.P. 

J.  Jephson,  Esq.,  M.P.  R.  Throckmorton,  Esq.,  M.P. 

C.  Shaw  Lefevre,  Esq.,  M.P.  Sir  H.  Williamson,  Bart.,  M.P.    j 
Lord  Lumley,  M.P. 

Copy  of  a  Letter  from  Mr.  R.  W.  Hay,  Under-Secretary  of  State 
for  the  Colonies,  to  Mr.  Wolryche  Whitmore,  M.P.  for  Bridge- 
north. 

Downing-Street,  30th  May,  1832.    ; 
Sir, 

Lord  Goderich  has  received  the  note  which  you  addressed  to  him 
on  the  28th  instant,  with  its  enclosure,  containing  "A  Proposal  for 
founding  a  British  Colony  in  South  Australia,  between  the  degrees 
of  longitude  132  and  141,  both  inclusive,  to  extend  northward  to 
latitude  20,  inclusive,  and  to  include  Kangaroo  Island  and  the  other 
islands  on  the  south  coast,  under  a  royal  charter  ;"  and  I  am  directed 
to  acquaint  you  that  after  having  given  to  the  subject  his  best  con- 
sideration, he  has  come  to  the  determination  of  withholding  the  sanc- 
tion of  his  majesty's  government  to  the  undertaking.! 

*  During  the  late  session  of  Parliament,  Mr.  Hutt,  one  of  the  members  for 
Hull,  requested  Lord  Howick  to  agree  to  a  motion  for  a  return  of  the  whole  of 
this  correspondence.  His  lordship  said  that  he  should  oppose  the  motion,  on 
account  of  the  expense  of  printing.  On  the  same  account,  I  can  give  here  only 
a  part  of  the  correspondence  :  but  this  part  of  it  is  enough  to  show  the  animus 
on  both  sides  ;   and  it  leaves  the  government  with  the  last  word. 

t  It  would  appear  by  the  terms  of  this  paragraph,  as  if  Lord  Goderich  had 
decided  the  question  in  two  days,  between  the  28th,  the  date  of  Mr.  Whitmore's 


358  APPENDIX,   NO.  HI. 

Independently  of  the  objections  which  he  should  feel  himself 
called  on  to  make  to  several  of  the  propositions  which  are  brought 
forward,  as  well  from  their  novelty  as  from  the  difficulty  which  he 
foresees  in  regard  to  their  practical  operation,  he  cannot  but  consider 
that  great  public  inconvenience  would  arise  from  the  circumstance 
of  a  new  colony  being  placed  so  near  to  the  penal  settlements  at 
Sydney  and  in  Van  Dieman's  Land,  as  that  proposed. 
I  have  the  honour  to  be,  sir, 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

(Signed)  R.  W.  Hay. 

W.  W.  Whitmore,  Esq.,  M.P.,  $c,  <$c. 


Copy  of  a  MEMORIAL  addressed  to  Viscount  Goderich,  his 
majesty'' s  principal  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies;  in 
answer  to  the  above. 

Office  of  the  South  Australian  Land  Company,  ) 
8,  Regent-Street,  June  4, 1832.  ) 

The  undersigned,  being  members  of  a  Provisional  Committee 
formed  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  colony  on  the  south  coast  of 
Australia,  persons  desirous  to  settle  in  the  proposed  colony,  and 
others  taking  a  deep  interest  in  the  matter,  have  perused,  with  sur- 
prise and  sorrow,  a  letter  addressed  by  Mr.  Hay  to  Mr.  Whitmore, 
dated  May  30  ;  wherein  it  is  stated,  that  "  Lord  Goderich  has  come 
to  the  determination  of  withholding  the  sanction  of  his  majesty's 
government  from  their  undertaking:"  and  they  now  take  the  liberty 
of  submitting  to  Viscount  Goderich  a  statement  of  the  grounds  on 
which  they  are  led  to  hope  and  trust  that  his  lordship  will  be  pleased 
to  reconsider  his  decision  in  this  matter,  confident  that,  when  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  case  shall  be  examined,  Viscount  Goderich  will 
not  persist  in  his  present  determination. 

T.  That  the  proposal  submitted  to  Viscount  Goderich  by  Mr. 
Whitmore,  as  chairman  of  the  Provisional  Committee,  on  the  28th 
ultimo,  is  not  a  new  proposal,  but  was  submitted  to  Viscount  Code- 
rich  in  much  greater  detail,  and  in  a  printed  form,*  during  the  autumn 
of  last  year  ;  when  a  deputation,  consisting  of  Colonel  Torrens,  Mr. 
Bacon,  Mr.  Conger,  and  Mr.  Graham,  wailed  upon  Viscount  Gode- 
rich for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  his  lordship's  Opinion  of  that 
proposal.  Thai  the  members  of  the  deputation  were  so  well  pleased 
with  the  opinion  which  Viscount  ( roderich  expressed  of  their  under- 
taking, that  they  thought  it  needless  to  ask  for  any  written  reply  to 

letter,  and  the  80th,  llie  <hitc  of  -Mr.  Hay's.      Let  us  do  his  [oidship  justice  :   the 

■abject  had  been  before  him  for  a  whole,  year,  aa  will  be  seen  further  on;  but 
why  should  Mr.  rlej  omit  all  notice  of  the  fact,  and  write  a>  if  Lord  Goderich 
had  nerer  heard  of  the  subject  till  the  28th  of  May,  1832  '. 

*  Proposal  i"  hia  majesty's  government  for  founding  a  colony  on  the  southern 
coaut  of  Australia.     188L 


APPENDIX,    NO.  III.  359 

their  proposal,  but  advised  the  persons  whom  they  represented  to 
proceed  with  the  undertaking,  by  submitting  the  intended  charter  to 
the  law-officers  of  the  crown,  and  raising  the  necessary  capital. 

II.  That  a  notice  of  the  proposed  colony  having  appeared  in  a 
newspaper,  in  which  it  was  stated  that  his  majesty's  government 
had  given  their  unqualified  sanction  to  the  undertaking,  Viscount 
Howick,  Under-Secretary  of  State  for  the  colonies,  then  superintend- 
ing the  Australian  department,*  addressed  to  Mr.  Bacon  a  memo- 
randum in  the  following  words  : — 

Colonial-Office,  13th  October,  1831. 

"  I  was  surprised  to  see  in  the  Spectator  newspaper  of  yesterday, 
an  assertion  that  the  government  had  given  its  sanction  to  the  plan 
for  the  establishment  of  a  chartered  colony  in  Australia.  This  state- 
ment is  not  strictly  correct.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  any 
official  sanction  has  been  given  to  the  plan.  The  only  approbation 
which  has  been  expressed  was  conveyed  by  myself,!  verbally,  to 
Major  Bacon ;  and  in  the  conversation  I  had  with  him,  I  distinctly 
informed  him  that  I  was  authorized  to  promise  nothing ;  and  that  I 
merely  expressed  my  own  opinion,  being  ignorant  of  that  which  Lord 
Goderich  might  entertain,!  as  I  did  not  consider  the  scheme  suffi- 
ciently matured  for  his  decision. 

"  The  substance  of  what  I  said  in  this  unofficial  manner  was  this, 
that  I  myself  thought  very  favourably  of  the  project;  and  that  doing 
so,  I  was  anxious  that  it  should  be  laid  before  Lord  Goderich  in 
such  a  shape  as  to  be  most  likely  to  meet  with  his  approbation. § 
For  this  purpose,  I  advised  the  modification  in  the  original  project, 
with  respect  to  the  number  of  inhabitants  who  should  be  considered 
sufficient  for  the  introduction  of  a  representative  government,  and 
with  respect  to  the  nomination  of  the  governor,  which  have  since 
been  made.||  I  further  suggested  that  the  draft  of  the  charter,  which 
it  was  desired  to  obtain,  should  be  prepared  and  submitted  to  the 
attorney-general  ;F  and  I  stated  that  if  this  draft,  approved  by  him 

*  The  Australian  department  was  soon  afterward  taken  from  Lord  Howick, 
and  given  to  Mr.  Hay. 

t  This  is  not  strictly  correct.  The  deputation  had  had  a  long  interview  with 
Lord  Goderich,  whom  they  found  reading  their  printed  proposal,  and  who  sug- 
gested two  alterations  in  it,  which  were  immediately  adopted.  What  Lord 
Goderich  said  of  the  plan  at  that  interview,  and  how  far  he  spoke  officially,  will 
be  seen  further  on. 

%  Just  so  ;  but  Lord  Goderich  had  very  distinctly  expressed  his  own  opinion, 
unknown  to  Lord  Howick ;  and  the  notice  in  the  Spectator  referred,  not  to  the 
opinion  of  the  under-secretary,  but  to  that  of  his  chief. 

(j  It  had  been  already,  unknown  to  Lord  Howick,  laid  before  Lord  Goderich, 
in  the  shape  of  a  printed  pamphlet  of  31  pages. 

II  Both  these  alterations  were  also  suggested  by  Lord  Goderich  to  the  deputa- 
tion which  waited  on  his  lordship  ;  and  it  was  these  suggestions,  by  the  principal 
secretary  of  state,  which,  among  other  things,  led  the  deputation  to  conclude 
that  he  approved  of  their  enterprise. 

1T  Lord  Goderich  himself  had  made  the  very  same  suggestion. 


360  APPENDIX,  NO.  III. 

and  accompanied  by  a  respectable  list  of  subscribers,  were  brought 
under  the  consideration  of  Lord  Goderich  ;  and  if  it  should  be  clearly- 
made  to  appear  that  the  government  would  be  put  to  no  expense,  I 
had  little  doubt  that  Lord  Goderich  would  recommend  that  the 
charter  should  be  issued.*  With  respect  to  the  difficulty  that  was 
stated  to  exist  about  obtaining  subscriptions  without  havin°  received 
the  sanction  of  government  to  the  scheme,  I  said  that,  in  my  opinion, 
what  would  be  the  fairest  for  all  parties  would  be,  that  the  draft  of 
the  charter  should  be  submitted  to  Lord  Goderich,  with  a  list  of 
subscriptions  conditional  upon  the  sanction  of  the  government  being 
granted  ;  and  that,  upon  the  draft  being  approved  by  Lord  Goderich, 
the  sum  subscribed  for  should  be  actually  paid  up,  or  at  least  a  cer- 
tain proportion,  before  the  charter  should  actually  issue ;  that  thus 
the  subscribers  would  run  no  risk  of  being  drawn  in  to  contribute  to 
an  unsanctioned  project,  and  the  government  would  equally  avoid 
all  danger  of  giving  their  countenance  to  a  scheme  which  there  were 
not  funds  to  support. 

(Signed)  H." 

III.  That  the  document  recited  above  was  considered  as  confirm- 
atory of  the  opinion  of  the  undertaking  expressed  by  Viscount  Gode- 
rich to  the  deputation  which  had  waited  on  his  lordship,  and  as  in- 
tended only  to  provide  that  the  conditions,  on  which  the  sanction  of 
his  majesty's  government  had  been  required,  should  be  strictly  ful- 
filled before  such  sanction  should  be  officially  expressed. 

IV.  That  on  the  16th  of  April  last,  a  deputation,  headed  by  Mr. 
Whitmore,  waited  upon  Viscount  Goderich  for  the  purpose  of  ascer- 
taining whether  his  lordship  continued  to  entertain  a  favourable 
opinion  of  the  enterprise ;  and  that  the  impression  left  on  the  minds 
of  the  deputation  by  Lord  Goderich's  reception  of  them  was,  that  his 
lordship  continued  to  entertain  a  favourable  opinion  of  the  project 
generally,  though  there  might  be  points  of  detail  requiring  modifi- 
cation. 

V.  That  the  parties  interested  in  the  undertaking  further  held 
several  conversations  with  Viscount  Howick  and  other  gentlemen 
of  the  Colonial  Department,  and  especially  with  Mr.  Stephen,  the 
counsel  of  that  department,  whereby  they  were  led  to  believe  that 
his  majesty's  government  viewed  their  undertaking,  not  merely  with 
approbation,  but  with  a  very  warm  interest. t 

VI.  That  in  consequence  of  the  belief  arising  from  Viscount  Gode- 
rich's reception  of  the  deputations  above-mentioned,  from  Viscount 

*  This  caution  and  modesty  were  very  becoming  in  a  young  nobleman  new 
to  office  ;  but  Lord  Godcricb,  an  experienced  statesman,  bad  already  sunken  for 
himself  in  decisive  terms;  one  of  tbe  grounds  on  which  he  thought  so  well  of 
the  plan  bong  that,  upon  the  face  "I  it,  tin  gOYernmenl  was  not  to  be  put  to  the 
expense  of  a  singb-  I  -.billing  for  any  purpose  whatever. 

t  Thus  far  Mr.  Hay  had  not  been  concerned  with  this  affair. 


APPENDIX,  NO.  in.  361 

Howick's  memorandum,  and  from  the  conversations  just  alluded  to, 
the  parties  interested  in  the  undertaking  have  been  constantly  occu- 
pied, for  great  part  of  a  year,  in  measures,  having  for  object  the  ful- 
filment of  conditions  which  they  conceived  to  be  required  by  his 
majesty's  government ;  such  as  circulating  pamphlets,  with  a  view 
to  bring  the  subject  before  the  public,  raising  the  necessary  capital, 
procuring  evidence  as  to  the  soil  and  climate  of  the  south  coast  of 
Australia,  preparing  a  draft  of  the  proposed  charter,  and  forming  the 
company  under  whose  auspices  the  proposed  colony  was  to  be 
founded. 

VII.  That  their  progress  in  these  measures  was  greatly  retarded, 
and  on  two  occasions  entirely  suspended,  by  the  votes  of  the  House 
of  Lords  on  the  reform-bill ;  but  that  by  dint  of  the  constant  labour 
of  a  considerable  number  of  persons,  the  whole  of  whose  time  has 
been  devoted  to  this  object,  they  had,  as  they  imagined,  overcome 
every  difficulty ;  and  that  the  late  communication  from  Mr.  Whitmore 
to  Viscount  Goderich,  whereby  the  original  proposal*  was  briefly 
repeated,  was  made  for  the  purpose  of  informing  his  lordship  of  their 
success,!  and  of  obtaining  that  official  sanction  to  their  enterprise, 
without  which  it  was  impossible  that  they  should  adopt  any  final 
step. 

VIII.  That,  though  the  want  of  an  official  expression  of  the  sanc- 
tion of  his  majesty's  government  necessarily  prevented  them  from, 
opening  shares  to  the  public,  still  that,  of  the  500,000/.  which  it  is 
propped  to  raise,  the  persons  who  intended  to  settle  in  the  colony 
proposed  to  subscribe  100,000/.;  and  that  many  of  them,  in  order 
to  carry  this  their  purpose  into  effect,  as  well  as  to  provide  them- 
selves with  capital  for  use  in  the  colony,  have  disposed  of  real  and 
other  property  in  this  country  to  a  considerable  amount ;  that  several 
of  them  have  abandoned  trades  and  professions  in  which  they  were 
engaged  ;  have  purchased  outfits  and  other  goods  for  exportation  to 
the  colony;  and  will  be  subject  to  a  very  serious  loss  of  property 
(not  to  mention  the  loss  of  their  time)  in  case  the  hope  on  which 
they  have  acted  should,  at  the  eleventh  hour,  be  frustrated  by  his 
majesty's  government. 

IX.  That  persons,  who  do  not  propose  settling  in  the  colony, 
have  intimated  their  intention  of  subscribing  100,000/.  of  the  capital. 

X.  That,  with  reference  to  Mr.  Hay's  letter  to  Mr.  Whitmore  of 
the  30th  ultimo,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  proposal  sub- 
mitted to  Viscount  Goderich  is  distinguished  by  some  novelty;  since 
never  before  did  a  body  of  capitalists  offer  to  any  government  so 

"    With  the  alterations  that  Lord  Goderich  had  suggested. 

+  After  this,  Mr.  Hay's  mention  of  the  proposal,  as  if  it  had  been  entirely  new, 
eeems  unaccountable.  Was  it  a  joke!  or,  as  the  proposal  was  indeed  new  to 
Mr.  Hay,  did  he  speak  sincerely  enough,  meaning  himself  when  he  said  "  Lord 
Goderich  ?" 

46 


362  appendix,  no.  m. 

large  a  sum  as  125,000/.  for  500,000  acres  of  land,  completely  waste 
and  in  a  country  absolutely  desert. 

XI.  That  in  two  other  respects  the  plan  is  distinguished  by 
novelty:  in  the  first  place,  as  it  promises  a  continually  increasing 
fund  for  the  purpose  of  pauper-emigration ;  and  secondly,  as  it  pro- 
vides, though  but  in  one  case,  against  the  evils  which,  in  all  the 
colonies  of  modern  times,  have  resulted  from  the  want  of  any  fixed 
or  rational  system  in  the  disposal  of  waste  land.* 

XII.  That  in  other  respects,  the  proposal  submitted  to  his 
majesty's  government,  instead  of  being  distinguished  by  novelty,  is 
founded  on  precedent ;  the  English  government  having  invariably, 
it  is  believed,  except  in  the  case  of  the  late  Swan  River  colony, 
adopted  the  principle  of  self-government  in'  the  formation  of  colonies. 
That  in  the  case  of  every  colony,  properly  so  called,  founded  by  this 
country,  the  home  government  gave  its  sanction  to  that  compact 
among  the  first  settlers,  which  led  to  the  foundation  of  the  colony; 
a  compact  of  which  the  essence  was,  that  the  colonists  should  govern 
themselves  in  local  matters,  and  provide  for  the  expenses  of  local 
self-government.t 

XIII.  That  although  no  public  announcement  has  yet  been  given 
of  the  intention  of  the  proposed  company  to  convey  poor  settlers  to 
Australia,  a  mere  rumour  of  that  intention  has  led  poor  persons 
(nearly  all  of  them  without  employment,  and  many  of  them  in  a 
state  of  great  destitution),  who  together  with  their  families  amount 
to  upwards  of  six  thousand,  to  apply  for  the  benefit  which  the  mere 
sanction  of  his  majesty's  government  would  enable  the  company  to 
bestow  on  them.:}; 

XIV.  That  the  proposed  undertaking  is  not  open  to  the  objection 
against  the  establishment  of  colonies,  which  is  held  by  many  enlight- 
ened persons  ;  viz.  an  objection  to  the  expense  which  colonies  often 
occasion  to  the  mother  country,  and  to  the  great  amount  of  patron- 
age which  they  place  at  the  disposal  of  a  minister  at  home :  since, 
in  the  present  case,  it  is  provided  that  all  the  public  expenses  at- 
tendant on  the  colony  should  be  borne  by  the  colonists  themselves  ; 
and  that  the  officers,  so  to  be  paid  for  administering  the  government 

*  These  gentleman  may  have  known  how  to  found  a  colony;  but  it  is  evi- 
dent thai  they  did  not  know  bow  to  ileal  with  a  corrupt  old  government     Their 

HOXOeU  in  dwelling  on   two  points,  which  would  have  rendered   impossible  all 

jobbing  with  new  land,  or  with  the  purchase-money  of  it,  is  almost  laughable. 

•  Here,  again,  the  simplicity  of  Mr.  \\  bitm  're  and  his   coadjutors   is   almost 

ing.     Governments  love  precedent,  when  it  makes  in  their  favour:  in  this 
■  could  nut  hut  be  offensive  to  notice  those  precedents,  of  which  the  memory 

is  held  indialike  at  the  English  colonial  office;  ami  to  notice  them,  too,  for  the 

purpose  i,t  vetting  tin1  best  ofthe  argument  with  a  minister. 

One  •  i  tht   ■ ,  having  been  told  thai  tin  government  had  changed  its  mind. 

and  that  tin  scheme  was  at  an  end,  said,  W'h.u  !  the  reform  government?    Yes, 

was  the  answer  ;  even  the  rrfmm  government  ! 


APPENDIX,  no.  in.  363 

of  the  colony,  should  not,  the  governor  excepted,  be  appointed  by 
the  secretary  of  state.* 

XV.  That,  with  reference  to  Mr.  Hay's  letter  to  Mr.  Whitmore 
of  the  30th  ultimo,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  "  Great  public  inconve- 
nience would  arise  from  the  circumstance  of  a  new  colony  being 
placed  so  near  to  the  penal  settlements  of  Sydney  and  Van  Dieman's 
Land,"  it  is  acknowledged  that  the  proposed  colony  would  present  a 
remarkable  contrast  with  the  penal  settlements  of  Australia;  a  con- 
trast of  all  that  is  good  in  colonization  with  all  that  is  bad ;  local 
self-government  instead  of  arbitrary  rule ;  a  rational  and  fixed 
system  in  the  disposal  of  waste  land  (one  of  the  elements  of  coloni- 
zation), instead  of  a  system  which,  though  based  on  the  plan  devised 
by  the  projectors  of  the  proposed  colony,f  is  rendered  almost  nuga- 
tory by  previous  want  of  system,  and  is  dependant  for  its  duration 
on  the  pleasure  of  the  secretary  of  state  for  the  time  being  ;  a  society 
concentrated  by  that  rational  system  in  the  disposal  of  waste  land, 
and  enabled  to  employ  their  capital  and  labour  with  the  greatest  ad- 
vantage, instead  of  a  society  dispersed  by  the  profusion  of  the  govern- 
ment in  granting  waste  land,  and  so  prevented  from  raising  com- 
modities which  require  combination  of  capital  and  labour;  a  moral 
society,  or  at  least  a  society  plaeed  under  circumstances  the  most 
favourable  to  morality,  instead  of  a  society  pre-eminently  vicious,  in 
which  the  most  disgusting  depravity  prevails,  and  in  which  such 
vices  are  becoming  national  habits.  The  contrast  would,  no  doubt, 
have  been  most  striking.  But  the  undersigned  are  at  a  loss  to 
see  in  what  way  the  establishment  of  so  much  good  by  the  side  of 
so  much  evil  could  be  productive  of  "  public  inconvenience."  On 
the  contrary,  they  submit  to  Viscount  Goderich,  that  the  want  of  a 
costless,  concentrated,  and. civilized  colony  in  Australia,  furnishes  a 
very  strong  reason  why  the  home  government,  not  being  called  on  to 
incur  any  expense  or  to  create  any  patronage,!  should  enable  the 
undersigned  to  establish  such  a  settlement  in  that  part  of  the  world ; 
so  that  there  may  be  one  British  colony  at  least,  in  a  favourable 
climate,  to  which  persons  of  all  classes  may  resort,  without  incurring 
political,  social,  or  moral  degradation. 

XVI.  That  the  only  "public  inconvenience"  which  the  under- 
signed can  imagine  to  be  alleged  as  likely  to  result  from  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  self-governed  colony  in  Australia,  is,  that  the  settlers 
in  the  penal  colonies,  not  being  convicts,  would  thereby  be  led  to 
ask  of  the  home  government  the  advantage  of  self-government  in 
local  matters.    But  in  answer  to  this  supposed  allegation,  the  under- 

*  Worse  and  worse.  What  else  could  they  expectjbut  to  be  treated  as  they 
were  1  Why  did  they  not  rather  dwoll  on  their  confidence  in  the  secretary  of 
state,  as  shown  in  their  having  given  up  to  him,  at  his  own  suggestion,  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  governor  1 

t  The  plan  of  the  Colonization  Society,  just  then  adopted  by  the  government, 
as  to  New  South  Wales  and  Van  TJieman's  Land. 

X  There  again  :  always  touchio  g  the  sore  place. 


364  APPENDIX,   NO.  III. 

signed  venture  to  remark,  that  already  the  free  settlers  of  the  penal 
colonies  earnestly  beg  for,  and  are  bent  on  obtaining,  the  advantage 
in  question ;  that,  for  any  thing  that  has  been  stated  to  the  contrary, 
they  are  entitled  to  this  advantage ;  and  that  they  might  enjoy  it 
without  hinderance  to  the  penal  system.  If,  however,  it  were  clear 
that  the  establishment  of  a  self-governed  colony  near  to  the  penal 
colonies,  would  create  a  demand  for  self-government  among  the 
settlers  of  those  penal  colonies  ;  and  if  it  were  further  proved  that 
self-government,  in  local  matters,  is  incompatible  with  the  penal 
system,  still  the  undersigned  would  take  the  liberty  of  reminding 
Viscount  Goderich,  that  the  whole  system  of  penal  transportation  is 
condemned  by  some  jurists  and  politicians  as  being  not  less  costly 
than  ineffectual  as  a  punishment ;  and  that  in  all  probability,  and  in 
accordance  too  with  the  views  of  the  present  government,  that  system 
of  pretended  punishment  and  colonial  depravity  will  not  much  longer 
be  followed.  Consequently,  it  appears  to  the  undersigned  that,  if 
the  objection  which  they  presume  to  be  alleged  by  Mr.  Hay's  letter 
to  Mr.  Whitmore  were  not  removed,  it  would  amount,  on  the  part  of 
his  majesty's  government,  to  a  decision,  That,  because  some  public 
inconvenience  might  by  possibility  arise,  and,  if  at  all,  for  but  a  short 
time,  by  contrasting  the  best  with  the  worst  mode  of  colonization  in 
Australia,  therefore,  none  but  the  worst  system  should  be  adopted  in 
any  part  of  that  vast  region. 

That  the  vicinity  of  the  proposed  colony  to  the  penal  settlements 
is  calculated  to  remove  an  objection,  which  was  stated  by  Viscount 
Goderich  to  the  deputation  beaded  by  Mr.  Whitmore  on  the  16th  of 
April ;  namely,  that  the  establishment  of  a  colony  at  such  a  distance 
from  the  penal  colonies  might  be  injurious,  by  extending  the  line  to 
be  protected  in  case  of  war.  But,  if  the  latter  objection  should  be 
urged,  the  undersigned  would  observe  that  since  the  formation  of  the 
Swan  River  colony,  the  whole  of  the  south  coast  of  Australia  ought 
to  be  defended  in  case  of  war ;  and  that  the  establishment  of  a 
colony  in  the  centre  of  that  coast,  midway  between  Van  Dieman's 
Land  and  the  Swan  River,  would  greatly  facilitate  such  defence. 

XVII.  That  if  the  above  considerations  should  not  remove  Vis- 
count Goderich's  objection  to  the  new  colony,  which  is  founded  on 
the  possibility  of  public  inconvenience,  the  undersigned  would  further 
point  out  to  his  lordship,  that  a  British  settlement,  not  penal,4  and 
one  to  which  it  appears  inevitable  that  the  advantage  of  self-govern- 
ment, in  Local  matters,  will  be  accorded  as  soon  as  the  settlers  are 
sufficiently  numerous,  already  exists  in  Australia  ;  namely,  the  Swan 
River  colony,  which  extends  to  King  George's  Sound. 

WW.  Finally,  the  undersigned  submit  to  Viscount  Goderich, 
that  when  a  number  of  persons  are  disposed  to  incur  the  risks  and 
hardships  of  planting  a  colony  in  a  desert  country,  the  social  arrange- 
ments under  which  they  shall  exist  are,  and  have  always  been  eon- 

•  But  cotrtly,  they  didwdll  not  to  add. 


APPENDIX,    NO.  III.  365 

sidered  by  the  British  government,  matters  in  which  the  settlers 
alone  are  deeply  interested,  and  of  which  they  are  the  best  judges ; 
that,  in  the  present  case,  the  intended  settlers  have  formed  a  plan  of 
colonization,  whiclf,  if  it  succeed,  must  inevitably  be  productive  of 
great  advantage,  not  merely  to  themselves,  but  to  this  nation  at  large, 
by  opening  a  great  field  for  the  employment  of  our  surplus  labour  and 
capital ;  and  that,  in  order  to  carry  into  effect  this  purpose  of  un- 
qualified good,  the  utmost  extent  of  their  request  to  his  majesty's 
government  is,  that  it  will  exercise  one  of  the  functions  for  which 
governments  exist,  by  binding,  under  a  charter  from  the  crown,  the 
compact  into  which  those  individuals  are  desirous  to  enter. 

(Signed) 

W.  W.  Whitmore,  M.P. 

Robert  Torrens,  M.P. 

J.  E.  Strickland. 

Richard  Heathfield. 

W.  A.  Mackinnon,  M.P. 

J.  A.  Stewart  Mackenzie,  M.P. 

Win,  Gowan,  Upper  Baker-street 

J.  Melville,  Upper  Harley-streer* 

F.  Place,  Charing-cross. 
William  Hutt,  54  Conduit-street. 
Thomas  Hoskyns,  M.P. 
Thomas  Rudge,  Hereford. 

Robert  Gouger,  Casde-street,  Falcon-square. 

Benjamin  Hanson,  Bruton-street. 

D.  Elston,  Bridge-House,  Limehouse. 

Robert  Price,  M.P. 

Henry  Drummond,  Charing-cross. 

Samuel  Hoare,  Lombard-street. 

C.  Lushington,  Edgeware. 

G.  Long,  Tanfield-court,  Temple. 
Samuel  Mills,  20  Russel-square. 
L.  Thomas,  Cheapside. 

A.  Bacon,  North-Bank. 
R.  Sadlier,  Fulham. 

D.  Munro,  Kensington. 
D.  Wakefield,  Gray's  Inn. 

G.  A.  Angas,  Jeffrey-square,  St.  Mary  Axe. 

G.  S.  Tucker,  Birchin-lane. 

G.  J.  Graham,  Gray's  Inn. 

R.  Phillips,  M.P.,  Portland-place. 

George  Vardon,  Charles-street,  Westminster. 

H.  L.  Bulwer,  M.P.,  Albany. 

Samuel  Brookes,  Islington. 

R.  D.  Hanson,  Hackney. 

Richard  Borrow,  Stepney. 

William  Borrow,       do 

William  Currie. 


366  APPENDIX,   NO.  III. 

John  Cobden,  Canterbury. 

J.  Rhodes,  Bankside. 

J.  Evans. 

G.  Morrison,  Soho-square.  • 

E.  C.  Richards,  George-yard,  Lombard-street. 
D.  Browne,  M.P. 

Charles  Hanson,  Hackney. 

John  Cunnold. 

R.  Throckmorton,  M.P. 

R.  Heathfield,  jun.,  Lincoln's  Inn. 

H.  Surman,  Lincoln's  Inn. 

W.  H.  Surman,       do. 

Erskine  Humphreys,  Lincoln's  Inn. 

J.  H.  Rice,  North-Bank,  Regent's  Park. 

J.  Harding. 

M.  Racster. 

Alex.  M'Math. 

Andrew  Smith,  Birchin-lane. 

Joshua  Storrs. 

F.  B.-Robinson. 

W.  Wanson,  Hackney. 

Joshua  Brookes. 

George  Drury. 

John  Bowes,  54  Conduit-street. 

G.  S.  Rutherford,  Welbeck-street. 
G.  C.  Hawkins,  Regent-street. 

J.  S.  Luraley,  M.P.,  Park-street. 

To  the  above  memorial,  no  answer  was  returned.  Two  inter- 
views, however,  took  place  between  Lord  Goderich  and  deputations 
from  the  society. 

At  the  first  of  these  meetings,  Lord  Goderich  urged  several  new 
objections  to  the  undertaking.  The  letter,  accordingly,  of  which  a 
copy  follows,  was  addressed  to  his  lordship  by  Mr.  Strickland,  who, 
during  Mr.  Whitmore's  absence  from  town,  acted  as  chairman  of  the 
Provisional  Committee. 


South  Australian  Land  Company's  Committee-Room,  ) 
8  Regent-street,  June  16,  1832.  J 

My  Lord, 
As  chairman  of  a  meeting  of  the  South  Australian  Land  Company, 
held  this  day,  I  have  the  honour  to  addross  your  lordship  on  the  sub- 
ject which  was  discussed  between  your  lordship  and  a  deputation 
from  that  committee  on  Friday  last.* 

*  At  this  meeting  there  were  present,  besides  the  Provisional  Committee,  a 

eoneiderable  amnbei  of  the  gentlemen  who  had  made  arrange nts  t<  >r  settling 

in  the  proposed  colony  They  were  in  a  state  of  anxious  urcitament,  such  as 
can  I"'  imagined  by  him  only  who  knows  after  how  painful  a  struggle  people, 
having  etrong  tiee  a)  borne,  make  up  (heir  mihda  to  emigrate;  ana  how  earn- 
estly, when  they  have  come  to  that  decision,  they  think,  to  the  exclusion  of  all 


APPENDIX,    NO.  III.  367 

Before  noticing  the  objections  to  the  proposed  colony  which  were 
urged  by  your  lordship  on  that  occasion,  I  would  venture  once  more 
to  remind  your  lordship,  that  the  proposal  now  before  you  is  by  no 
means  a  new  one  ;  but  that  it  was  submitted  to  you  so  long  as  nearly 
twelve  months  ago.  This  assertion  will  be  borne  out  by  the  follow- 
ing relation  of  facts. 

Early  in  the  month  of  June  last  year,  Mr.  Gouger,  in  consequence 
of  a  conversation  with  Viscount  Howick,  delivered  to  his  lordship  a 
paper,  entitled  Proposal  for  establishing  a  new  colony  in  South  Aus- 
tralia. On  the  1 1th  of  the  same  month,  Viscount  Howick  addressed 
a  letter  to  Mr.  Gouger,  of  which  I  have  the  honour  to  enclose  a  copy 
marked  A,  and  by  which  Mr.  Gouger  was  directed  to  renew  the  pro- 
posal in  a  different  form.  Consequently,  another  proposal  was 
drawn  up,  printed,  and  forwarded  to  Viscount  Howick,  who  sub- 
mitted the  same  to  your  lordship ;  and  your  lordship  was  pleased  to 
appoint  a  time  when  you  would  receive  a  deputation  from  the  persons 
interested  in  forming  the  intended  colony,  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
them  some  answer  to  the  proposal  in  question.  The  deputation, 
which  consisted  of  Colonel  Torrens,  Mr.  Bacon,  Mr.  Graham,  and 
Mr.  Gouger,  waited  on  your  lordship,  and  read  a  paper,  containing 
the  heads  of  the  printed  proposal,  which,  however,  they  found  in 
your  lordship's  hands,  and  of  which  you  were  pleased  to  say  that 
you  had  read  it  with  much  interest,  and  that  its  subject  matter  was 
of  so  much  importance  as  to  deserve  your  immediate  and  serious  at- 
tention. One  objection*  your  lordship  made  to  the  proposal,  viz.  to 
the  proposed  appointment  of  the  governor  by  tbe  company. f  In  all 
other  respects  it  appeared  to  the  deputation,  not  merely  that  your  lord- 
ship assented  to  the  proposal  generally,  but  that  you  felt  a  consider- 
able interest  in  the  undertaking,  which,  if  successful,  was  calculated 
to  effect  so  much  good.  So  satisfied  were  the  deputation  with  your 
lordship's  feeling  on  the  subject,  that,  upon  subsequent  consultation 
among  the  parties  interested,  they  recommended  that  your  lordship 
should  not  be  asked  for  any  written  answer  to  the  proposal ;  on  the 
ground  that  such  a  request  would  be  ungracious  to  your  lordship,  as 

other  thoughts,  upon  their  prospects  of  happiness  in  the  new  country.  It  was 
a  scene  for  Wilkie  to  have  painted  :  the  minister  seated,  cross-legged,  with  an 
air  of  official  gravity  and  importance  ;  the  under-sccretary  standing  behind  a 
high  desk,  a  sort  of  apology  for  not  being  seated  in  the  presence  of  his  chief; 
the  petitioners  watching  every  expression  of  the  great  man's  face  ;  their  own 
faces  lighted  up  when  he  uttered  a  word  that  seemed  favourable  to  them,  and 
pulled  lengthwise  when  he  spoke  of  objections  ;  the  little-great  man  suggesting 
objections  from  behind  the  high  desk ;  and  when  the  would-be  settlers  stared  as 
if  they  would  eat  him,  looking  down  steadily  upon  a  bundle  of  papers  tied  with 
red  tape. 

*  This  is  a  mistake  :  there  were  two  objections  ;  one  to  the  appointment  of 
the  governor  by  the  colonists  ;  the  other  to  the  number  of  people  (5,000  male 
adults)  who,  it  was  proposed,  should  have  a  legislative  assembly.  Both  points 
were  conceded  :  Lord  Goderich  was  to  appoint  the  governor ;  and  for  5,000 
male  adults,  10,000  was  substituted  by  Lord  Goderich's  desire. 

t  The  appointment  of  the  governor  was  vested  in  the  colonists  by  the  charters 
of  Massachusetts  Bay,  Connecticut,  Rhode-Island,  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and 
Maryland. 


358  APPENDIX,  NO.  III. 

savouring  of  a  suspicion,  which  was  most  distant  from  the  thoughts 
of  the  deputation,  that  your  lordship's  favourable  reception  of  them 
mi^ht  not  have  been  sincere.* 

Within  a  few  days  of  the  interview  in  question,  Mr.  Bacon,  who 
happened  to  be  at  the  Colonial-Office  on  other  business,  was  called 
aside  by  Viscount  Howick  (who  at  that  time,  it  should  be  remem- 
bered, conducted  the  Australian  department),  when  a  conversation 
occurred,  of  which  a  minute  in  writing  was  immediately  made  by 
Mr.  Bacon,  and  communicated  to  the  persons  with  whom  he  was 
acting.  Of  that  paper  I  have  the  honour  to  enclose  a  copy,  marked 
B.  The  next  communication  between  the  Colonial-Office  and  the 
intended  colonists  was  made  by  Viscount  Howick's  memorandum, 
dated  October  31st,  1831,  which  was  copied  into  the  memorial  pre- 
sented to  your  lordship  on  the  4th  instant. 

After  this  long,  and  I  fear,  tiresome  recital,  your  lordship  will,  I 
trust,  acknowledge,  that  I  am  correct  in  representing  the  proposal 
before  your  lordship  as  by  no  means  a  new  one,  but  as  one  which 
was  formally  submitted  to  you,  in  a  complete  shape,  last  year,  and 
which  did  then  obtain  your  serious  attention.  If  this  had  not  been 
the  conviction  of  the  intended  colonists,  or  if  they  had  imagined  tluit 
your  lordship  had  entertained  any  one  serious  objection  to  their 
project,  instead  of  occupying  themselves,  as  they  have  done,  with 
other  measures  for  carrying  the  project  into  effect,  they  would  either 
have  sought  to  convince  your  lordship  that  any  objections  held  by 
you  were  ungrounded,  or  would  have  requested  your  lordship  to 
suggest  alterations  in  their  place,  calculated  to  make  it  entirely  agree- 
able to  you.  Indeed,  on  the  two  points  which  did  occur  to  your 
lordship  as  objectionable,  viz.  the  appointment  of  the  governor  by  the 
company,  and  the  amount  of  population  which  should  be  entitled  to 
local  self-government,  they  immediately  altered  their  plan  to  meet 
your  lordship's  views ;  and  all  their  subsequent  publications  have 
contained  those  alterations.  • 

Your  lordship  will,  therefore,  be  able  to  appreciate  the  great  dis- 
appointment which  they  have  suffered  at  finding  that  now,  when 
they  have  laboured  for  a  year  to  fulfil  the  conditions  on  which  they 
had  every  reason  to  be  confident  that  a  charter  would  be  given  to 
them,  numerous  and  grave  objections  have  been  for  the  first  time 
mentioned ;  objections  which,  had  they  occurred  last  year,  would 

*  There  can  be  no  doubt  thai  Lord  Goderich'a  favourable  reception  of  these 
gentlemen  was  perfect!;  sincere.  lint  it  may  be  doubted  whether,  at  that  time, 
be  had  looked  to  the  consequences  which  might  result  from  the  example  of  a  very 
cheap  colony  in  Australia.  CJne,  who  is  well  acquainted  with  the  English 
government,  having  been  told  of  the  success  of  this  deputation,  said,  "They  do 

not  understand  your  plan  :  as  s i  as  they  understand  it  they  will  oppose  it. 

I  f  you  want  the  sanction  of  government,  you  must  put  a  good  deal  of  patronage 

into  yuvir  plan*:  this  plan  is  t heap,  altogether  too  good,  ever  to  be  liked  by 

our  government,  [nstead  of  5,000*.  a  year  for  governing  the  colony,  say 
•jo, noil/,  a  year;  and  give  all  the  appointments  to  the  Colonial-Office.  If  you 
do  this,  you  w  ill  gel  the  charter  without  trouble  :  it'  you  bold  to  the  present  plan, 
you  will  never  get  a  charter,  except  by  appealing  to  the  House  of  Commons; 
and  not  then  until  there  shall  have  been  twaor  three  elections  under  the  reform 
bill." 


APPENDIX,    NO.  III.  389 

either  have  been  removed,  or  would  have  saved  the  trouble,  the  loss 
of  time,  the  loss  of  property,  and  the  pain  of  frustrated  hopes,  which 
must  ensue  unless  they  be  now  removed. 

I  proceed  to  notice  the  objections  which  were  stated  by  your  lord- 
ship on  Friday  last,  or  at  the  interview  on  the  16th  of  April  last. 

First  in  importance  is  that  which  supposes,  that  a  number  of  in- 
telligent men  should  have  wildly  neglected  to  ascertain  whether  the 
spot  on  which  they  desire  to  settle  and  pass  the  remainder  of  their 
lives  be  sufficiently  fertile  for  the  purposes  of  colonization.  On  this 
head,  I  have  to  remark  that  your  lordship  never  so  much  as  hinted 
at  any  doubt  concerning  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  until  such  a  doubt 
was  expressed  by  Mr.  Whitmorc  on  the  16th  of  April  last ;  that  the 
doubt  which  had  occurred  to  Mr.  Whitmore  has  been  entirely  re- 
moved, as  is  shown  by  a  resolution  of  the  Provisional  Committee,* 
passed  unanimously  on  the  21st  of  May  last  (of  which  I  have  the 
honour  to  enclose  a  copy  maked  C);  that  this  is  a  point  which,  if 
his  majesty's  government  had  been  about  to  found  the  colony,  they 
ought  to  have  ascertained  from  the  beginning;  but  that,  whereas,  in 
point  of  fact,  the  colony,  if  founded,  will  be  altogether  (according  to 
ancient  and  most  successful  practice)  the  work  of  individuals,  not 
his  majesty's  government,  but  the  individuals  concerned  are  deeply 
interested  in  the  question  :  that  the  individuals  concerned  have 
examined  this  question  with  the  deepest  anxiety,  and  have  arrived  at 
the  conclusion,  that  they  run  no  risk  of  meeting  with  a  soil  not  fit 
for  colonization :  that,  even  if  such  risk  existed,  it  would  involve  no 
greater  possible  evil  than  the  disappointment  of  those  individuals, 
since  the  vicinity  of  the  site  of  the  proposed  settlement  to  the  settle- 
ments of  New  South  Wales  and  Van  Dieman's  Land,  where  food  is 
not  merely  plentiful  but  superabundant,  puts  out  of  question  the  pri- 
vations which  have  occurred  to  the  founders  of  many  new  colonies  ; 
the  proposed  settlement  being,  as  relates  to  food,  not  a  new  colony, 
but  a  new  settlement  in  an  old  colony  over-supplied  with  food  ;|  and, 
finally,  that  the  objection  urged  by  your  lordship  would,  if  main- 
tained, be  an  objection  to  the  foundation  of  a  colony  anywhere ; 

,    *  "At  a  meeting  of  the  Provisional  Committee,  21st  May,  1832  ;  present, 

W.  Wolryche  Whitmore,  Esq.,  in  the  chair.1 
Colonel  Torrens,  M.P.  G.  Fife  Angas,  Esq. 

William  Hutt,  Esq.  J.  Jephson,  Esq.,  M.P. 

Samuel  Mills,  Esq.  John  Melville,  Esq. 

After  considering  the  evidence  contained  in  the  printed  pamphlet,  entitled— 
Evidence  relating  to  the  soil,  climate,  and  productions  of  the  south  coast  of  Aus- 
tralia; hearing  the  evidence  of  Dr.  Rutherford  and  Mr.  Riley  ;  reading  that  of 
Mr.  Mearing ;  reading  a  Sydney  Gazette,  wherein  is  set  forth  the  contract 
prices  of  meat  and,bread  in  Sydney,  viz.  beef,  |rf.  per  lb.,  mutton,  licL  per  lb., 
and  bread,  \\d.  per  lb. ;  also  reading  extracts  from  Captain  Stuart's  Journal: 
it  was  resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  evidence  this  day  submitted  to  the  com- 
mittee, in  respect  of  the  soil,  climate,  and  productions  of  Kangaroo  Island,  and 
the  shores  of  the  Murray  River,  and  Lake  Alexandrina,  is  sufficient  to  warrant 
the  formation  of  a  colony  on  those  lands  with  all  possible  despatch." 

t  With  animal  food,  which  is  become  a  drug  in  New  South  Wales  and  Van 
Dieman's  Land,  as  it  is  in  Buenos  Ayres. 

47 


370  APPENDIX,    NO.  III. 

since  it  would  be  hard  to  obtain  a  body  of  evidence  as  to  the  soil  of 
any  desert  country  so  favourable  as  that  of  which  I  have  the  honour 
to  enclose  a  copy  marked  Q.*  Of  tbe  capacity  of  any  desert  soil 
for  colonization  there  must  always  exist  a  doubt  until  the  experiment 
be  made :  but  to  say  that  the  existence  of  such  a  doubt  furnishes  a 
reason  for  not  making  the  experiment,  appears  directly  contrary  to 
reason.f 

And  here  I  venture  to  request  your  lordship's  particular  attention 
to  a  point  which  has  been  made  prominent  in  every  step  taken  by 
the  projectors  of  the  colony;  which  appears  in  the  proposal  sub- 
mitted to  your  lordship  last  year,  in  the  published  plan  of  the  com- 
pany, and  in  the  prospectus  lately  submitted  to  your  lordship ;  viz. 
that  the  iirst  outlay  of  the  company  is  to  be  by  wap  of  experiment, 
the  sum  to  be  employed  not  to  exceed  5/.  on  each  share  of  the  capital 
subscribed,  or,  in  the  whole,  50,000/.  In  confirmation  of  this  state- 
ment, I  venture  to  quote  the  following  passage  from  the  published 
plan  of  the  company.  "  The  plan  pursued  by  it  will  be  to  send  out 
in  the  first  instance  a  small  expedition,  for  the  purpose  of  examining 
whether  the  site  proposed  for  the  new  colony  offers  the  advantages 
which  have  been  supposed  to  attach  to  it.  This  may  be  done  at  a 
moderate  expense.  If  the  result  should  be  favourable,  the  agents  of 
the  company  will  select  for  the  first  settlement  the  spot  which  seems 
to  them  the  most  suitable."  Thus  your  lordship  will  sec,  that  the 
doubt,  which  must  exist  in  every  case  as  to  the  fertility  of  the  soil 
of  a  desert  country  has  not  been  lost  sight  of  in  the  present  instance, 
but  has  led  to  arrangements  which  render  the  first  intended  expe- 
dition nothing  more  than  a  sufficient  experiment. 

Nevertheless,  as  those  who  have  the  deepest  interest  in  the 
experiment  trust  and  believe  that  it  will  prove  successful,  so  were 
tiny  bound  to  provide  for  its  success.  The  case  of  failure  is  pro- 
vided for  by  the  vicinity  of  other  settlements  superabounding  in  land, 
in  food,  and  in  demand  for  labour.  The  case  of  success  is  provided 
for  by  the  proposed  charter ;  in  order  that  if  a  colony  be  founded,  it 
may  not  be  left  without  any  social  regulations;  in  order  that  if  a 
settlement  be  planted  on  the  shores  of  Spencer's  Gulf,  the  settlers 
paying  for  the  land,  those  first  settlers  may  not  be  ruined  by  subse* 
quent  gifts  of  land  to  others  who  may  follow  them  ;  in  order,  briefly, 
that  if  the  first  settlement  succeed,  as  to  the  question  of  soil,  it  may 
not  prove  a  miserable  failure  in  all  oilier  respects. 

The  next  objection  urged  by  your  lordship  was,  the  evils  that 
might  arise  from  the  reson  to  the  new  colony  of  run-away  convicts 
from  the  penal  settlements;  Now,  the  fact,  is,  that  Kangaroo  Island 
has  been  lor  many  years,  and  is  at  this  time,  a  place  ofrefuge  for 

run-away  COnvicU ;   that    in  that   island  such  persons  have  formed  a 

lociety  remarkable  lor  existing  without  any  social  ties,  and  for  tin' 

prevalence  of  the  most  horrid  crimes;  thai  com  ids  iii  the  penal 

thus  invi         i  •   cape,  no  power  existing  to  prevent 

■   Thi  •  i  •  •■'  printed  pamphlet. 

■t   ff  for  a  doub  cfil,  we  read  h  doubl  as  to  the  convenience  o! 

ioI  roverhment,  this  "objection,  coming  from 
the  colonial  minister,  will  seem  iati  [h. 


APPENDIX,    NO.  III.  371 

Jhem  from  inhabiting  the  south  coast  of  Australia ;  and  that  if  a 
settlement  were  formed  on  that  coast,  instead  of  any  evil  so  to  be 
caused,  an  effectual  stop  would  be  put  to  the  evil  which  already 
exists.*  In  illustration  of  the  state  of  the  people  who  are  settled  on 
Kangaroo  Island,  I  venture  to  mention  the  following  fact,  which  is 
stated  by  Dr.  Barnes,  a  gentlemen  of  great  respectability,  now  resi- 
dent in  London. 

Dr.  Barnes,  being  in  New  Zealand,  met  with  an  Englishman  who 
some  years  before  had,  in  a  fit  of  madness,  attempted  to  destroy 
himself.  His  lower  jaw  was  shot  away  in  the  attempt.  Recovering 
his  senses,  ashamed  of  what  he  had  done  and  of  his  frightful  appear- 
ance, he  sought  to  hide  himself  from  the  sight  of  civilized  men,  and 
to  pass  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  a  state  of  savage  excitement. 
With  this  view  he  selected  as  a  place  of  refuge  Kangaroo  Island, 
where  he  could  obtain  the  society  of  men  more  degraded  than  him- 
self. It  should  be  further  remarked,  that  the  savage  settlers  of 
Kangaroo  Island  seize  native  women  from  the  mainland,  whom  they 
treat  as  slaves,  and  by  whom  they  have  children ;  so  that  there  is 
every  prospect,  unless  some  counter  measure  be  adopted,  of  the 
existence  of  a  band  of  dangerous  pirates  in  the  spot,  which  it  is 
now  proposed  to  convert  into  a  civilized  colony. 

The  third  objection,  which  appeared  to  weigh  with  your  lordship, 
was  the  apparent  want  of  any  motive  for  founding  a  new  settlement 
in  Australia,  when  three  settlements  are  already  established  there. 
In  answer  to  this  objection,  if  it  may  be  so  termed,  I  am  requested 
to  refer  your  lordship  to  the  signatures  appended  to  our  memorial 
of  the  4th  instant,  and  to  say,  that  many  of  the  gentlemen  who 
signed  that  document  intend  to  settle  in  the  proposed  colony;  but 
that  no  consideration  would  induce  them  to  settle  in  New  South 
Wales,  where,  such  is  the  state  of  society,  there  are,  allowing  for 
the  difference  of  population,  325  public  executions  for  one  in  Eng- 
land ;  and  where,  moreover,  nameless  crimes  prevail,  and  are  be- 
coming, as  in  Turkey,  national  habits.  Those  gentlemen  also  re- 
quest me  to  say,  that  the  accounts  which  they  have  received  of  the 
Swan  River  settlement,  of  the  ruin  and  misery  which  have  befallen 
the  more  wealthy  emigrants  to  that  colony,  render  it  impossible  that 
they  should  settle  in  a  colony  where,  by  the  profusion  of  the  govern- 
ment in  granting  land,  the  people  are  dispersed  and  pauperised ; 
and  where  there  is  no  security  for  the  inestimable  advantage  of  local 
self-government. 

Finally,  your  lordship  was  pleased  to  dwell  on  the  responsi- 
bility which  his  majesty's  government  might  incur,  by  giving  its 
sanction  to  the  proposed  undertaking.  To  this  objection  there  would 
be  no  answer,  if  his  majesty's  government  had  originated  the  under- 
taking, or  were  called  upon  to  take  active  measures  for  promoting 
and  conducting  it.     But  the  fact  is,  that,  as  in  the  case  of  our  oldest 

*  Acting  upon  this  lesson,  the  government  has,  I  am  told,  ordered  a  crown 
settlement  to  be  made  on  this  coast,  where  it  was  proposed  to  found  a  chartered 
colony.  If  it  be  so,  and  they  should  now  be  asked  to  enable  individuals  to 
found  a  colony  there,  without  expense  to  the  mother-country,  the  reform  govern- 
ment may  say,  Oh,  dear,  no  :  the  country  is  already  settled. 


372  APPENDIX,   NO.  III. 

and  most  successful  colonies,  as  in  the  case,  it  is  believed,  of  every 
colony  founded  by  Englishmen,  the  Swan  River  colony  only  ex- 
cepted, the  undertaking  originates  with,  and  is  to  be  wholly  con- 
ducted by,  certain  individuals  deeply  interested  in  every  step  that 
they  may  take,  fully  conversant  with  the  subject,  and  influenced  by 
the  strongest  sense  of  responsibility ;  which  body  of  individuals  ask 
no  more  of  his  majesty's  government  than  that  it  will  enable  them  to 
carry  into  effect  their  own  purpose,  by  their  own  means,  and  on 
their  own  responsibility.  For  the  partial  failure  of  the  Swan  River 
settlement,  the  government,  who  founded  the  settlement  without  any 
provision  for  success,  is  no  doubt  responsible ;  but  the  Plymouth 
Company  and  William  Penn,  not  the  governments  of  the  time,  were 
responsible  for  the  success  of  the  colonies  of  Virginia  and  Pennsyl- 
vania. And  it  may  be  said  further,  recurring  to  principles  which 
have  often  been  eloquently  advocated  by  your  lordship,  that  the  two 
last  named  colonies  flourished  so  greatly,  because,  not  a  distant 
government,  but  the  individuals  most  deeply  concerned,  were  respon- 
sible for  every  act  performed.  It  is  true  that,  in  the  present  case, 
the  individuals  concerned  can  perform  no  act  without  a  charter  from 
the  crown ;  but  your  lordship  will  allow  me  to  observe,  that  the 
crown  is  impowered  to  grant  charters  for  the  express  purpose  of 
enabling  bodies  of  men  to  act  in  concert  in  matters  which  involve  no 
evil  to  the  public.  Consequently,  it  appears  to  me,  and  in  saying 
so  I  speak  the  expressed  opinion  of  many  of  my  coadjutors,  that  un- 
less there  be  upon  the  face  of  the  proposed  undertaking  some  pros- 
pect of  evil,  such  as  it  is  the  business  of  government  to  prevent,  his 
majesty's  government  could  not  incur  any  responsibility  by  merely 
enabling  a  number  of  men  to  act  in  concert,  for  the  accomplishment 
of  their  own  purposes,  by  their  own  means,  and,  I  repeat,  on  their 
own  responsibility. 

But  1  venture  humbly  to  suggest  to  your  lordship,  that  the  respon- 
sibility of  frustrating  so  great  and  good  an  object,  by  refusing  so 
small  a  boon,  is  one  deserving  consideration. 

Referring  to  what  fell  from  your  lordship  as  to  the  propriety  of 
submitting  so  important  a  question  to  his  majesty's  ministers,  I  have 
to  state,  that,  except  on  the  score  of  delay  and  suspense,  which  are 
most  distressing  to  many  of  the  persons  interested  in  this  question, 
we  should  be  gratified  to  learn  that  your  Lordship  had  laid  the  ques- 
tion before  the  cabinet  ;  confident  that  the  more  our  plan  shall  be 
examined,  the  more  will  it  be  thought  worthy  of  support  by  an 
enlightened  and  liberal  administration.* 

In  conclusion,  I  am  instructed  to  say,  that  if  there  be  any  modifi- 
cation of  the  plan  which  would  render  it  more  agreeable  to  your 
lordship,  the  parties  concerned  will  readily  adopt  the  same,  unless 
it  would  interfere  with  the  main  principles  of  their  scheme  :  but  they 
are  unable  to  suggest  any  alteration,  because  no  part  of  the  plan  has 

•  Like  the  hungry  workman,  who  had  set  his  heart  on  getting  fat  in  the 
new  colony,  these  gentlemen  lettn  to  have  placed  too  much  deppndanct  on  a 
reform  government. 


APPENDIX,  NO.  III.  373 

been  adopted  by  them  without  much  inquiry  and  reflection ;  nor 
could  any  part  of  it,  in  their  sincere  opinion,  be  changed  without  an 
alteration  for  the  worse. 

(Signed)  J.  E.  Strickland. 

To  the  Right  Honourable  Lord  Viscount  Goderich, 

His  Majesty's  Principal  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies, 

4-c,  £c.j  4c. 

To  the  above  letter  no  answer  was  returned  ;  but  Lord  Goderich 
intimated  his  wish  that  any  further  discussion  should  be  carried  on 
verbally.  At  the  interview,  when  the  objections  were  made  to  which 
the  above  letter  was  intended  as  an  answer,  Mr.  Hay  was  present, 
and  suggested  most  of  the  objections.  An  interview  now  took  place, 
at  which  Mr.  Hay  was  not  present,  between  Lord  Goderich  and  a 
deputation  from  the  committee.  On  this  occasion  (of  which  a  par- 
ticular account  has  been  preserved)  Lord  Goderich  suggested  some 
alterations  in  the  plan,  and  these  being  agreed  to  by  the  deputation, 
appeared  to  abandon  all  his  objections.  His  manner  was  courteous, 
and  he  appeared  to  feel  for  the  many  families  then  waiting  in  the 
most  painful  suspense  for  his  decision.  He  desired  that  a  draft  ol 
the  proposed  charter,  with  the  alterations  then  proposed  and  agreed 
to,  might  be  forwarded  to  him  without  delay;  and  the  deputation  re- 
ported to  their  constituents  that,  as  far  as  they  could  judge  from  his 
lordship's  manner  and  language,  the  charter  would  be  speedily 
granted.  On  the  9th  of  July,  accordingly,  a  draft  of  the  proposed 
charter  was  delivered  at  the  colonial-office,  together  with  a  letter 
from  Colonel  Torrens  to  Lord  Goderich.  To  this  letter,  the  follow- 
ing curious  answer  was  returned  by  Mr.  Hay : — 

Downing-street,  17th  July,  1832. 
Sir, 
lam  directed  by  Lord  Goderich  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
your  letter  dated  the  9th  instant,  enclosing  the  draft  of  a  charter  for 
the  incorporation  of  the  South  Australian  Land  Company,  and  to 
acquaint  you,  for  the  information  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  Provisional 
Committee,  that  his  lordship  has  bestowed  the  most  careful  attention 
upon  the  various  provisions  of  that  instrument.  As  the  transmission 
of  the  proposed  charter  affords  the  first  occasion  which  has  pre- 
sented itself  during  the  discussions  on  this  subject,  for  taking  a  clear 
and  comprehensive  view  of  the  plan  of  the  company  in  all  its  bear- 
ings,* Lord  Goderich  has  entered  on  the  inquiry  with  a  full  convic- 
tion, that  nothing  which  has  hitherto  occurred  can  be  supposed  by 
the  parties  more  immediately  concerned  to  preclude  his  majesty's 
government  from  their  free  and  unfettered  discretion  on  the  general 
principles  and  the  particular  details  of  the  scheme,  f     Whatever  de- 

*  The  great  convenience  of  making  this  mistake  may  be  some  excuse  for 
having  made  so  great  a  one. 

t  That  is,  translating  these  fine  gitt-paper  terms  into  plain  English,  all 
which  had  gone  before  was  to  be  counted  for  nothing.  This,  certainly,  was  not 
"supposed  by  the  parties  more  immediately  concerned."  From  the  tone  of  the 
government,  after  Mr.  Hay  became  its  organ,  one  should  be  led  to  suppose,  that 
these' petitioners,  instead  of  asking  for  a  piece  of  parchment,  had  been  request- 
ing Mr.  Hay  and  Lord  Goderich  to  emigrate  along  with  them. 


374  APPENDIX,    NO.  III. 

liberations  may  have  intervened  between  the  original  suggestion  of 
the  measure  and  the  delivery  at  this  office  of  the  draft  of  a  charter, 
they  have  all  taken  place  upon  the  assumption,  that  the  proposal, 
when  drawn  out  in  its  ultimate  form,  would  be  found  compatible 
with  the  fundamental  principles,  to  which  it  is  the  duty  of  the  king's 
government  to  adhere  in  every  grant  which  they  may  advise  his 
majesty  to  pass  under  the  great  seal ;  and  it  is  of  course  obvious 
that  this  condition  must  at  all  times  have  been  distinctly  under- 
stood.* 

On  examining  the  draft  which  you  have  transmitted,  Lord  Gode- 
rich  finds  that  in  many  important  particulars  it  goes  far  beyond  the 
proposition  as  he  originally  understood  it  to  be  conceived  ;t  that  it 
would  virtually  transfer  to  this  company  the  sovereignty!  of  a  vast 
unexplored  territory,  equal  in  extent  to  one  of  the  most  considerable 
kingdoms  of  Europe  ;§  that  it  would  encroach  on  the  limits  of  the 
existing  colonies  of  New  South  Wales  and  Western  Australia  ;|| 
that  it  is  proposed  to  throw  open  the  settlement  to  foreigners  as  well 
as  to  British  subjects,  in  such  a  manner  as  at  once  to  place  them 
upon  a  complete  equality  ;lf  that  the  objects  of  the  corporation  are 
defined  with  such  latitude  of  expression  as  to  exclude  no  conceivable 
employment  of  their  capital  ;**  that  the  actual  investment  of  that 
capital,  or  any  part  of  it  even,  is  not  necessarily  to  precede  the 
issuing  of  the  charter  ;ft  that  the  charter  would  invest  the  company 
with  a  power  of  legislation,  and  would  even  enable  thorn  to  delegate 
to  others  the  exercise  of  that  trust,  without  taking  the  very  least 

*  Of  course  :  but  it  was  also  understood  that,  when  Lord  Goderich  expressed 
his  approval  of  the  fundamental  principles,  &c,  he  knew  what  they  were,  and 
really  meant  what  he  said. 

t  "Beyond;"  in  which  direction?  towards  liberalism  or  toryisml  The 
draft  of  a  charter  imbodied  the  less  liberal  provisions  as  to  the  governor  and 
the  legislative  assembly,  which  Lord  Goderich  had  suggested. 

t  It  had  always  been  proposed  that  the  company  should  govern  the  colony 
until  the  settlers  were  numerous  enough  to  govern  themselves. 

$  This  is  a  mistake.  The  only  creatures,  over  which  sovereignty  could  be 
transferred,  are  a  few  savages  and  a  great  many  kangaroos  and  emues.  It  is 
true,  that  the  space  within  which  all  Waste  land  was  to  be  sold,  and  the  colonists 
were  to  govern  themselves  in  local  matters  as  soon  as  there  should  be  colonists, 
was  very  large.  But  the  charter  mentioned  exactly  the  same  space  as  the  ori- 
ginal proposal. 

II  This  is  a  mistake  :  those  colonies  have  no  defined  limits.  The  nearest 
part  of  the  outside  of  the  proposed  colon;  to  any  settlement  in  Australia  would 
have  been  some  hundreds  of  miles  distant. 

IT  I  am  not  aware  thai  "foreigners"  were  over  mentioned  either  in  writing 
or  verballv  by  any  one  connected  with  the  colony  ;  but  it  was  eertainU  pro- 
vided in  the  charter,  that  all  the  p I  people  taken  to  the  colony  w  it li  the  pur- 
chase-money of  waste  land  should  be  British  subjects. 

**  What  the  company  should  do  with  its  Capital  was  stated  distinctly. 
Would  Mr.  May  have  bad  the  charter  recite  all  the  things  which  tile  company 
should  nol  do  with  its  capital. 

ft   The   committee    had    been    imploring  Lord  Goderich    to    promise,  only  to 

promise,  the  ch;iiier  officially,  in  order  that  subscriptions  for  the  capital  might 
in-  received.  Lord  Goderich  had  been  told,  too,  thai  the  intended  settlers  were 
ready  to  subscribe  L00,000f.  of  that  capital,  and  that  they  had  disposed  of  real 
and  other  property  with  that  view. 


APPENDIX,    NO.  III.  375 

security  against  the  possible  abuse  of  so  high  an  authority  ;*  that  the 
company  would  enjoy  the  right  of  erecting  courts,  and  of  appointing 
and  removing  judges  and  other  officers  (f  that  they  claim  the  power 
of  raising  and  commanding  the  militia  ;  that  they  would  exclude  the 
king  from  the  exercise  of  that  power  of  imposing  duties  of  customs 
which  parliament  has  entrusted  to  him  throughout  the  Eastern 
colonies  ;|  that  a  freedom  of  trade  is  claimed,  to  which  the  naviga- 
tion and  trade  acts,  as  they  now  stand,  are  opposed  ;§  that  all  the 
powers  of  the  company,  extensive  as  they  are,  and  involving  in  their 
practical  effect  the  sovereign  dominion  of  the  whole  territory,  are 
ultimately  to  be  transferred  to  a  popular  assembly,||  which  would 
be  to  erect  in  the  British  monarchy  a  government  purely  republi- 
can ;*|[  and  that  the  company  would  be  the  receivers  of  large  sums 
of  public  money,**  for  the  due  application  of  which  they  do  not  pro- 
pose to  give  any  security. ft 

Other  objections  might  be  stated  to  the  plan  proposed  in  this 
draft;  but  for  the  present  Lord  Goderich  forbears  to  enter  on  any 
discussion  of  them.  .  His  lordship  deems  it  sufficient  to  have  pointed 
out  those  which  1  have  already  referred  to ;  and  directs  me  to  say 
that,  if  the  various  departments  of  government  which  must  be  con- 
sulted should  concur  in  a  scheme  involving  such  extensive  conse- 
quences, as  would  follow  from  the  adoption  of  that  which  is  pro- 
posed,;^ they  could  not  legally  carry  it  into  effect  without  the  express 
sanction  of  parliament;^  but  his  majesty's  government  could  not 

*  In  this  respect,  the  draft  of  a  charter  was  a  copy  from  the  charters,  under 
which  companies  founded  colonies  in  America.  At  one  of  the  interviews  with 
Lord  Goderich,  his  lordship  had  been  requested  to  examine  those  charters,  copies 
of  which  probably  exist  in  the  colonial-office.  A  printed  copy  of  them  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  committee. 

t  Of  course,  if  the  company  were  to  govern  for  a  time,  like  the  London  Com- 
pany, and  the  Plymouth  Company,  and  William  Penn,  and  even  the  company 
which  founded  a  colony  at  Sierra  Leone,  it  was,  during  that  time,  to  have  the 
authority  necessary  for  governing. 

t  Not  the  king,  but  the  clerks  in  Downing-street,  who  legislate  for  New 
South  Wales  and  the  Swan  River.  Every  provision,  however,  as  to  trade,  was 
subject  to  existing  laws ;  and  of  course  a  charter  could  not  affect  an  act  of 
parliament.  That  very  power  which  parliament  has  given  to  the  king,  his 
majesty  was  requested  to  exercise  in  this  case. 

§  A  great  mistake.  This  charter  could  not  have  applied  to  any  ports,  save 
those  of  the  colony ;  and  even  there,  could  not  have  interfered  with  any  act  of 
parliament. 

II  Of  course;  since  one  chief  object  of  the  plan  was,  according  to  ancient  and 
approved  practice,  to  establish  local  self-government  in  the  colony. 

H  If  the  company  should  revive  their  project,  they  would  do  well  to  put  a 
House  of  Lords  into  it ;  with  a  Baron  Blackswan,  a  Viscount  Kangaroo,  a 
Marquis  of  Morrumbio^gee,  and  a  Bishop  of  Omithoryncus. 

**  Only  for  repayment  of  their  private  money,  with  which  they  proposed  to 
defray  all  the  cost  of  government  and  defence,  until  the  colony  should  be  able 
to  repay  them. 

tt  The  application  of  the  money  was  clearly  denned  :  it  was  to  be  applied  in 
repayment  to  the  company  of  their  advances  for  the  government  and  defence  of 
the  colony. 

ttThe  admission  is  worth  notice,  that  the  plan  was  calculated  to  accomplish 
the  objects  of  those  who  formed  it. 

§§  Very  many  English  colonies  have  been  founded  by  charter  :  not  one,  it-  is 
believed,  by  act  of  parliament. 


376  APPENDIX,  NO.  III. 

recommend  to  parliament  a  measure  so  entirely  subversive,  in  one 
part  of  his  majesty's  dominions*  of  those  royal  prerogatives,  which, 
for  the  common  benefit  of  all  his  subjeets,  it  is  his  majesty's  duty  to 
maintain.! 

I  am,  sir, 
Your  obedient  humble  servant, 
Colonel  Torrens,  M.P.  (Signed)  R.  W.  Hay. 

Extract  from  the  Morning  Chronicle  of  September  23d,  1832. 

"  We  invite  attention  to  a  letter  of  Mr.  Gouger  upon  the  subject 
of  the  South  Australian  Land  Company,  which  will  be  found  in 
another  column.  Upon  the  merits  of  the  proposed  company  we 
shall  abstain  from  remarking  at  large  now  ;  as,  it  seems,  a  pamphlet 
is  to  be  published,  containing  the  whole  of  the  correspondence  with 
government  upon  the  subject,  accompanied  by  a  sketch  of  the  original 
plan.  It  is,  however,  clear  that  any  proposition  supported  by  such 
men  as  formed  the  provisional  committee,  and  of  which  the  object 
was  to  provide  a  place  of  refuge  for  six  thousand  poor  persons, 
ought  not  to  have  been  rejected  by  the  colonial  office  without  very 
good  reasons.  No  one  will  say  that  the  committee  was  not  suffi- 
ciently influential,  and  high  in  character,  to  support  any  wise  mea- 
sure they  chose  to  commence  :  neither  are  they  men  from  whom 
we  should  be  led  to  expect  any  other  than  a  practical  and  attainable 
project. 

"From  the  fact  of  the  difficulties  occurring  only  after  the  Austra- 
lian colonies  were  placed  under  the  control  of  Mr.  Hay,  the  tori/ 
under-secretary  of  state  for  the  colonies,  it  may  be  inferred  that  the 
plan  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Hay,  and  was  therefore  abandoned.  We 
have  more  than  once  had  occasion  to  reprobate  the  practice  of  the 
present  ministry,  in  keeping  about  them  men  whose  principles  are 
diametrically  at  variance  with  their  own.  A  tory  of  principle  and 
honour  will  naturally  object  to  measures  founded  upon  liberal  prin- 
ciples :  an  unprincipled  tory  will  lose  no  opportunity  to  serve  his 
partyj  by  bringing  his  opponents  in  politics  into  disrepute  ;  although 
he  may,  at  the  same  time,  be  eating  the  bread  of  liberal  employers. 
Both  classes,  therefore,  should  be  avoided  equally.  Mr.  Hay  is  a 
tory.  Educated  in  the  school  of  Lord  Melville,  he  has  been  the 
constant  attendant  of  all  succeeding  ministers.  If  it  should  turn  out 
that  a  spice  of  liberalism,  in  the  shape  of  self-government,  appeared 
in  the  plan  of  the  company  or  colony,  wc  have  no  doubt  the  ministers 
will  have  to  thank  their  tory  urnler-secretary  for  any  odium  or  un- 
popularity they  may  experience  from  the  reject  ion  of  the  measure  in 
question.*1 

\  complete  desert,  save  ;>s  to  the  runaway  convicts,  over  whom,  certainly, 
Bzercieei  no  dominion, 
idge ! 


1  IIL     L'ND. 


CATALOGUE 


VALUABLE    WORKS, 


EMBRACING 

HISTORY,  MATHEMATICS,         NATURAL  HISTORY, 

THEOLOGY,  MEDICINE,  POETRY  AND  FICTION, 

BIOGRAPHY,  PHILOSOPHY,  VOYAGES  AND  TRAVELS, 

&c.      &c.  &c. 


PRINTED   AND   PUBLISHED 
BY 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,   82  CLIFF-ST. 

NEW-YORK. 

Oct.  1833. 


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be  without  this  Library,  as  it  furnishes  the  readiest  resources  for  that  education  which 
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LIBRARY  OF  SELECT  NOVELS. 

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and  are  appealed  to  ;.s  evidence  in  all  questions  concerning  man.  In  them  the  cus- 
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liarities of  costume  and  dialect  are  curiously  preserved. 

This  "  Library  of  Select  Novels"  will  embrace  none  but  such  as  have  received  the 
impress  of  genera]  approbation,  or  have  been  wriltt  n  b)  authors  ol  established  char- 
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HISTORICAL    WORKS 

PUBLISHED   BY 

J.  &    J.  HARPER,  No.  82    CLIFF-STREET,    NEW-YORK. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF  THE 
ROMAN  EMPIRE.  By  Edward  Gibbon,  Esq.  Complete  in  4  vols.  8vo. 
With  Engravings. 

This  Stereotyped  Edition  of  Gibbon's  Rome  is  well  printed  on  a  good  sized  type, 
and  contains  the  necessary  Mips,  and  is,  in  all  respects,  perfect.  These  facts  are 
stated,  because  most  of  the  London  editions  new  offered  for  sale  in  this  country  are 
without  the  necessary.  Maps,  &c,  and  are  printed  on  a  type  so  small  that  it  is  in- 
jurious to  the  eyes  to  read  them.  Yet,  with  all  these  disadvantages,  they  are  sold  at 
a  higher  price  than  this  American  Edition. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  MODERN  EUROPE  ;  with  a  View  of 

the  Progress  of  Society,  from  the  Rise  of  the  Modern  Kingdoms  to  the  Peace 
of  Paris,  in  1763.  By  William  Russell,  LL.D. :  and  a  Continuation  of  the 
History  to  the  Present  Time,  by  William  Jones,  Esq.  With  Annotations 
by  an  American.     In  3  vols.  8vo.     With  Engravings. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  DISCOVERY  AND  SETTLE- 
MENT OF  AMERICA.  By  William  Robertson,  D.D.  With  an  Account 
of  his  Life  and  Writings.  To  which  are  added  Questions  for  the  Examination 
of  Students.  By  John  Frost,  A.M.  Complete  in  1  vol.  8vo.  With  a  Por- 
trait and  Engravings. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  REIGN  OF  THE  EMPEROR 

CHARLES  V.  With  a  View  of  the  Progress  of  Society  in  Europe,  from  the 
Subversion  of  the  Roman  Empire  to  the  Beginning  of  the  Sixteenth  Century. 
By  William  Robertson,  D.D.  To  which  are  added  Questions  for  the  Exam- 
ination of  Students.  By  John  Frost,  A.M.  Complete  in  1  vol.  8vo.  With 
Engravings. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND  during  the  Reigns  of  Queen 

Mary  and  of  King  James  VI.  till  his  Accession  to  the  Crown  of  England. 
With  a  Review  of  the  Scottish  History  previous  to  that  Period  ;  and  an  Appen- 
dix containing  Original  Letters.     To  which  is  alhxed 

AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION  CONCERNING  THE 
KNOWLEDGE  THE  ANCIENTS  HAD  OF  INDIA  ;  and  the  Progress 
of  Trade  with  that  Country  prior  to  the  Discovery  of  the  Passage  to  it  by  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope.  With  an  Appendix  containing  Observations  on  the  Civil 
Policy,  the  Laws  and  Judicial  Proceedings,  the  Arts,  the  Sciences,  and  Reli- 
gious Institutions  of  the  Indians.  By  William  Robertson,  D.D.  Complete 
in  1  vol.  8vo.     With  Engravings. 

Robertson's  works  are  also  sold  in  sets 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE   AMERICAN  THEATRE.     By 

William  Dunlap,  Vice  President  of  the  National  Academy  of  Design.  In  1 
vol.  8vo. 


ANNALS  OF  TRYON  COUNTY  ;  or,  the  Border  Warfare  of 
New-York,  during  the  Revolution.     By  Wm.  W.  Campbell.     8vo. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.  From  the  Earliest  Period  to 
the  Present  Time.  By  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Milman.  In  3  vols.  l8mo.  With 
.Maps  and  Engravings. 

Until  the  appearance  of  Professor  Milman's  admirable  work,  there  was  no  History 
of  the  Jews,  deserving  of  the  name,  except  that  of  Josephus :  and  he  lived  at  a  period 
too  remote,  and  too  limited  in  its  knowledge,  to  enable  him  to  do  justice  to  the  sub- 
ject. The  notices  to  be  found  in  various  Universal  Histories  are  meager  and  un- 
satisfactory ;  and  a  narrative  at  once  Christian  and  liberal  in  its  tone,  spirited  and 
elegant  in  its  language,  and  adequately  depicting  the  manners,  wars,  religion,  and 
policy  of  the  most  remarkable  of  nations,  was  still  wanting.  The  nature  of  the 
present  work  is  strictly  historical — not  theological — yet  it  elucidates  many  obscure 
passages  in  the  Old  Testament,  employs  with  great  skill  the  casual  evidence  of  heathen 
writers,  and  throws  new  light  on  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Hebrews  by  fre- 
quent references  to  the  pages  of  the  oldest  travellers. 

LETTERS    ON    DEMONOLOGY  AND    WITCHCRAFT. 

By  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Bart.     18mo.     With  an  Engraving. 

This  is  a  very  curious  and  interesting  work,  containing  as  it  does  the  results  of 
much  thought  and  great  research  upon  one  of  the  most  exciting  topics  of  human  in- 
quiry. Most  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  unrivalled  novels  betray  the  predilection  for  the 
supernatural  with  winch  his  mind  was  tinged,  and  the  extent  of  his  reading  in  works 
which  treat  of  "the  history  of  that  dark  chapter  of  human  nature"  to  which  this 
volume  is  devoted.  In  it  he  has  laid  open  the  stores  of  his  memory,  and  strikingly 
condensed  and  elucidated  the  subject ;  in  many  cases  explaining,  by  most  ingenious 
theories,  occurrences  which  6eem  to  lie  beyond  the  boundaries  of  natural  action. 


HISTORY    OF   THE   BIBLE.      By  the  Rev.  G.  R.  Gleig, 

M.A.     In  2  vols.  18mo.     With  a  Map  of  Palestine. 

These  volumes  do  not,  as  from  their  title  one  might  imagine,  contain  merely  an 
account  of  the  origin  and  contents  of  the  Sacred  Volume :  the  object  of  the  writer 
has  extended  far  beyond  tins.  He  has  produced,  perhaps,  the  most  elaborate  and  able 
examination  of  the  various  objections  urged  against  the  Scriptures  that  has  ever  been 
written ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  one  of  the  clearest  and  most  satisfactory  expositions 
of  the  whole  Bible,  not  only  as  the  foundation  of  our  faith,  but  also  as  a  history.  In 
the  performance  of  his  task,  Mr.  Gleig  has  exhibited  equal  piety  and  learning,  and 
his  work  is  calculated  to  facilitate  to  a  remarkable  degree  both  the  comprehension 
and  enjoyment  of  the  inspired  writings. 


NARRATIVE    OF   DISCOVERY   AND   ADVENTURE  IN 

THE  POLAR  SEAS  AND  REGIONS.  With  Illustrations  of  their  Climate, 
Geology,  and  Natural  History,  and  an  Account  of  the  Whale-Fishery.  By 
Professors  Leslie  and  Jameson,  and  Hugh  Murray,  Esq.  18mo.  With 
Maps  and  Engravings. 

No  person's  education  can  be  considered  complete  without  a  certain  degree  of  at- 
tention to  the  most  recent  improvementa  and  diacoverii  a  in  every  branch  of  scii 
In  none  have  greater  advances  been  made,  in  the  present  a  ntury,  than  m  geography 
ami  the  knowledgi  oi  the  earth  which  we  inhabit:  the  Polar  Seas  and  Regions 
have  been  moel  fertile  in  results  through  the  enterprise  and  perseverance  of  a  Rosa, 
Parry,  and  this  work,  in  which  tnoii  investigations  are  described, 
is  one  of  most  interesting  and  instructive  character. 

II  I.I,  WNALS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  FRANCE, 
1830.  To  which  is  added  a  Particular  Account  of  the  Celebration  of  said 
Revolution  in  the  City  of  New-York,  on  the  25th  November,  1830.  By 
Mvkii  Moses.      12m0i 


NARRATIVE   OF   DISCOVERY   AND  ADVENTURE   IN 

AFRICA.  From  the  Earliest  Ages  to  the  Present  Time.  With  Illustrations 
of  the  Geology,  Mineralogy,  and  Zoology.  By  Professor  Jameson,  and 
James  Wilson  and  Hugh  Murray,  Esqrs.  18mo.  With  a  Map  and  En- 
gravings. 

In  this  volume  is  recorded  every  thing  that  is  known  of  the  interior  of  that  danger- 
ous continent  which  has  been  for  so  many  ages  a  terra  incognita,  and  proved  the  grat  e 
of  so  many  enterprising  travellers,  except  what  has  been  revealed  to  us  by  thi 
investigations  of  John  and  Richard  Lander.  The  plan  of  the  work  consists  oi 
condensed  abstracts  of  the  narratives  of  all  the  modern  African  travellers,  in  which 
every  thing  important  or  interesting  is  preserved,  while  the  unessential  details  have 
been  so  abbreviated  as  to  bring  the  substance  of  each  account  within  convenient 
limits. 


HISTORY  OF  CHIVALRY  AND  THE  CRUSADES.     By 

G.  P.  R.  James,  Esq.     18mo.     With  Engravings. 

No  modern  writer  is,  perhaps,  so  well  qualified  to  write  upon  this  subject  as  the 
author  of  "  Richelieu,"  and  of  the  "  Life  and  Times  of  Charlemagne ;"  unquestionably, 
since  the  death  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  the  best  informed  historical  antiquary  of  the  age. 
The  present  work  contains,  in  a  small  compass,  a  clear  and  concise  account  of  that 
celebrated  institution  which,  in  process  of  time,  became  the  foundation  of  the  modern 
European  systems  of  government  and  jurisprudence,  with  a  vivid  description  of  those 
amazing  ebullitions  of  national  enthusiasm  which  poured  such  immense  multitudes 
of  warlike  pilgrims  upon  the  plains  of  Asia,  and  produced  such  extraordinary  changes 
in  the  condition  of  mankind.  The  work  is  eminently  curious,  interesting,  learned, 
and  philosophical. 


VIEW  OF  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  EGYPT.     With  an 

Outline   of  its  Natural   History.     By  the   Rev.  M.  Russell,  LL.D.     18mo. 
With  a  Map  and  Engravings. 

In  this  volume  is  contained  a  distinct  and  well  arranged  account  of  all  that  is 
known  with  certainty  respecting  the  ancient  history,  as  well  as  the  present  condition 
of  that  extraordinary  country  whose  antiquity  baffles  the  research  of  the  most  per- 
severing explorers,  and  to  which  both  Rome  and  Greece  were  indebted  for  at  least 
the  rudiments  of  those  arts  and  sciences  which  were  brought  in  them  to  such  per- 
fection. The  stupendous  remains  of  Egyptian  architecture,  and  the  treasures  of 
knowledge  ihat  still  remain  locked  up  in  the  far-famed  hieroglyphics,  have  long  en- 
gaged the  attention  of  the  most  accomplished  scholars,  and  every  thing  relating  to 
them  and  the  land  in  which  they  exist  is  in  the  highest  degree  interesting  to  the 
inquiring  mind.  ■ 


HISTORY  OF  POLAND.     From  the  Earliest  Period  to  the 

Present  Time.  By  James  Fletcher,  Esq.  With  a  Narrative  of  the  Recent 
Events,  obtained  from  a  Polish  Patriot  Nobleman.  18mo.  With  a  Portrait 
of  Kosciusko. 

The  recent  unsuccessful  effort  of  the  gallant  and  unfortunate  Poles  to  break  their 
yoke  of  bondage  has  fixed  the  attention  and  awakened  the  sympathies  of  every  lover 
of  freedom  and  every  friend  to  humanity.  The  writer  of  this  history  has  brought  to 
his  undertaking  much  learning,  great  industry  and  patience  in  research,  and  the 
most  unbiased  candour.  The  volume  is  full  of  interest  and  useful  information, 
drawn  from  an  immense  variety  of  sources,  many  of  which  are  not  accessible  to  the 
mass  of  readers,  particularly  in  America. 


LUTHER  AND  THE  LUTHERAN  REFORMATION.  By 

the  Rev.  John  Scott.     In  2  vols.  18mo.     With  Portraits. 


Historical  "Works  Published  by  J.  Sf  J.  Harper. 


FESTIVALS,  GAMES,  AND  AMUSEMENTS.  Ancient  and 
Modern.  By  Horatio  Smith,  Esq.  18mo.  With  Additions  By  Samuel 
Woodworth,  Esq.,  of  New-York. 

"Laws,  institutions,  empires  pass  away  and  are  forgotten,  but  the  diversions  of  a 
people,  being  commonly  interwoven  with  some  immutable  element  of  the  general 
feeling,  or  perpetuated  by  circumstances  of  climate  and  locality,  will  frequently 
survive  when  every  other  national  peculiarity  has  worn  itself  out  and  fallen  into 
oblivion."  This  extract  shows  the  spirit  in  which  this  captivating  volume  v.  as 
designed,  and  its  pretensions  to  utility.  The  information  imbodied  in  its  pages  is 
curious  and  extensive,  and  not  the  least  attractive  portion  is  the  account  of  the 
amusements,  &c.  peculiar  to  different  sections  of  the  United  States,  added  by  Mr. 
Woodworth. 

PALESTINE,  OR  THE  HOLY  LAND.     From  the  Earliest 

Period  to  the  Present  Time.  By  the  Rev.  M.  Russell,  LL.D.  18mo.  With 
a  Map  and  Engravings. 

The  early  history  of  that  most  interesting  portion  of  the  globe — the  theatre  of 
those  wonderful  events  from  which  our  religion  is  derived — as  well  as  its  present 
state,  is  described  in  this  volume  with  the  greatest  accuracy.  The  places  of  many  of 
the  incidents  recorded  in  the  Bible  are  pointed  out,  and  the  changes  that  have  occurred 
in  the  lapse  of  ages  are  carefully  delineated.  The  work  may  be  read  with  advan- 
tage in  connexion  with  the  Sacred  History  which  it  confirms  and  illustrates. 

SACRED  HISTORY  OF  THE  WORLD,  as  displayed  in  (lie 

Creation  and  subsequent  Events  to  the  Deluge.  Attempted  to  be  Philo- 
sophically considered,  in  a  Series  of  Letters  to  a  Son.  By  Sharon  Turner, 
F.S.A.     18mo. 

To  exhibit  the  Divine  Mind  in  connexion  with  the  production  and  preservation,  and 
with  the  laws  and  agencies  of  visible  nature,  and  to  lead  the  inquirer  to  perceive 
the  clear  and  universal  distinction  which  prevails  between  the  material  and  imma- 
terial substances  in  our  world,  both  in  their  phenomena  ami  their  principles,  is  the 
main  object  of  this  admirable  volume.  In  it  religious  and  scientific  instruction  are 
skilfully  and  strikingly  blended,  and  facts  and  principles  are  so  made  to  illustrate  each 
other  that  the  mind  and  heart  are  equally  improved  by  its  perusal,  and  the  cause  of 
science  is,  as  it  were,  identified  with  that  of  religion.  The  information  contained  in 
it  chiefly  relates  to  Natural  History,  and  it  is  extremely  copious,  accurate,  and 
interesting,  while  the  reflections  are  eminent  for  their  depth,  wisdom,  and  piety. 

HISTORICAL  and  DESCRIPTIVE  ACCOUNT  of  BRITISH 

INDIA;  from  the  most  Remote  Period  to  the  Present  Time.  Including  a 
Narrative  of  the  earlv  Portuguese  and  English  Voyages,  the  Revolutions  in  the 
Mogul  Empire,  and  the  Origin,  Progress,  and  Establishment  of  the  British 
Power;  with  Illustrations  of  the  Zoology,  Botany,  Climate,  Geology,  and 
Mineralogy.  Also  Medical  Observations,  an  Account  of  the  Hindoo  Astronomy, 
the  Trigonometrical  Surveys,  and  the  Navigation  of  the  Indian  Seas.  By  HoQH 
Murray,  Em.,  James  Wilson,  Esq.,  R.  K.  GrBBYiLLB,  LL.D.,  WHITELAW 
Ainsi.ik,  M.D.,  William  Rhind,  Esq.,  Prof.  Jameson,  Prof.  Wallace,  and 
Capt.  Clarence  DalBYMPLE.  In  3  vols.  18mo.  With  a  Map  and  En- 
gravings. 

A  history  of  India  iii  a  convenient  form,  and  in  an  easy  and  familiar  style,  has  long 
bsen  considered  B  desideratum.     Tins  work  commences  with  the  early  annals  of  the 

Hindoos,  traces  the  progress  and  decline  ol  the  Mohammedan  power,  and  brings  the 

history  of  the  British  dominion  in  India  down  to  the  tune  of  the  permanent  estab- 
lishment of  the  India  Company  and  the  foundation  ol  that  stupendous  empire.  It  is 
divided  into  departments  comprising  the  history,  literature,  arts,  and  manners  of  the 
Hindoos,  and  ■  description  of  the  country,  its  climate,  soil,  diseases,  productions,  and 
ares  :  these  departments  have  bean  committed  to  distinct  writers  ol  emi- 
nence, and  inlly  qualified  to  treal  of  them  with  distinguished  ability,  and  the  result 
has  been  the  production  of  a  body  "i  accurate  and  complete  information,  such  as 
to  be  (bund  collected  in  any  other  work  in  the  English  language. 


HISTORY  OF  IRELAND.     From  the  Anglo-Norman  Invasion 

till  the  Union  of  the  Country  with  Great  Britain,  by  W.  C.  Taylor,  Esq. 
With  Additions.  By  William  Sampson,  Esq.  In  2  vols.l8mo.  With  En- 
gravings. 

Before  its  republication,  this  work  was  submitted  for  examination  to  several  gen- 
tlemen resident  in  New-York,  natives,  or  the  descendants  of  natives,  of  the  country 
whose  history  it  contains,  and  distinguished  for  their  attachment  to  the  unhappy  land 
to  which  they  trace  their  origin,  and  for  their  talents  and  acquirements.  Their 
opinion  was  unanimous,  and  highly  favourable,  and  each  of  them  expressed  in  strong 
terms  the  pleasure  it  would  afford  him  to  see  republished  in  the  United  States  a 
work  so  fair,  so  copious,  and  so  accurate.  The  public  at  large  has  confirmed  their 
sentence,  and  stamped  this  history  with  the  seal  of  approbation.  The  value  of  the 
history  as  originally  published  has  been  greatly  enhanced  by  the  additions  of  William 
Sampson,  Esq.,  whose  reputation  is  too  well  known  in  the  country  of  his  adoption  to 
require  eulogy. 

HISTORICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  PROGRESS  OF  DISCOV- 
ERY ON  THE  MORE  NORTHERN  COASTS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 
From  the  Earliest  Period  to  the  Present  Time.  By  P.  F.  Tytler,  Esq. 
With  Descriptive  Sketches  of  the  Natural  History  of  the  North  American 
Regions.  By  Prof.  Wilson.  To  which  is  added  an  Appendix,  containing 
Remarks  on  a  late  Memoir  of  Sebastian  Cabot,  with  a  Yindication  of  Hakluyt. 
18mo.     With  a  Map  and  Engravings. 

Among  the  most  remarkable  occurrences  of  the  nineteenth  century  are  the  various 
expeditions  of  discovery  to  the  northern  coasts  of  the  western  continent,  so  important, 
although  not  perfectly  satisfactory  in  their  results.  In  no  other  portion  of  the  earth's 
surface  has  the  navigator  to  contend  with  such  formidable  difficulties,  and  in  none 
does  he  behold  so  peculiar  an  aspect  of  nature  :  it  follows,  therefore,  of  course,  that 
expeditions  to  no  other  part  of  jhe  world  furnish  to  the  historian  such  ample  and 
interesting  materials.  The  present  volume  exhibits  a  full  and  accurate  view  of  all 
that  is  important  in  modern  knowledge  of  the  most  remote  territories  of  North 
America,  and  may  be  considered  as  forming  a  sequel  to  the  "  Polar  Seas  and  Regions," 
and  as  furnishing  all  that  was  wanting  to  a  complete  account  of  the  whole  series  of 
northern  discoveries  by  land  and  water. 

HISTORY  OF  CHARLEMAGNE.     To  which  is  prefixed  an 

Introduction,  comprising  the  History  of  France  from  the  Earliest  Period 
to  the  Birth  of  Charlemagne.  By  G.  P.  R.  James,  Esq.  18mo.  With  a 
Portrait. 

The  age  of  Charlemagne  may  be  considered  as  the  period  to  which  the  origin  of 
most  of  the  nations  of  Europe  as  they  at  present  exist,  can  alone  be  traced  with  suf- 
ficient certainty  ;  beyond  this  epoch,  the  researches  of  the  historian  are  often  fated  to 
end  in  disappointment  and  obscurity.  In  tracing  the  fortunes  of  the  several  powers 
into  which  that  continent  is  divided,  from  the  earliest  attainable  facts  to  the  present 
time,  it  is  indispensable  that  the  inquirer  shotild  possess  a  clear  and  accurate  under- 
standing of  the  actual  state  as  well  of  France  as  of  the  surrounding  countries,  at  the 
period  when,  by  the  successes  and  achievements  of  that  remarkable  monarch,  his 
kingdom  became  the  dominant  power  of  the  European  continent.  Until  the  appear- 
ance of  Mr.  James's  History,  this  clear  and  accurate  understanding  was  of  exceedingly 
difficult  attainment ;  the  materials  from  which  it  was  to  be  drawn  were  scattered 
through  various  historical  works,  and  all  the  labour  of  arrangement,  condensation,  and 
comparison  was  to  be  performed  by  the  student  himself.  Such  is  no  longer  the  case ; 
light  has  been  shed  upon  the  darkness  of  that  remote  age  ;  and  the  world  of  Science 
is  indebted  to  Mr.  James  for  the  means  of  readily  acquiring  a  complete  and  satisfactory 
knowledge  in  all  its  details,  of  the  first  great  epoch  in  European  History.  In  the 
numerous  commendations  of  this  work  that  have  appeared  in  the  Reviews  and 
periodicals  both  of  England  and  the  United  States,  the  highest  terms  of  eulogy  have 
been  employed ;  and  all  have  noticed  w  ith  strong  expressions  of  praise,  the  singular 
perspicuity  of  the  style,  and  the  remarkable  absence  of  prolixity  and  confusion  in  the 
progress  of  the  narrative. 


SKETCHES  FROM  VENETIAN  HISTORY.      By  the  Rev. 

E.  Smedley,  M.A.     In  2  vols.  18mo.     With  Engravings. 

Few  have  the  knowledge,  the  time,  or  the  means  to  explore  for  themselves  the 
treasures  of  the  Italian  chronicles.  The  author  of  this  work  has  laid  open  their 
stores  for  the  benefit  of  those  to  whom  the  language  in  which  they  are  written  renders 
them  a  sealed  book — gleaning  from  them  the  most  characteristic  incidents,  amusing 
stories,  and  anecdotes,  while,  at  the  same  time,  he  has  sustained  all  the  dignity  of 
historical  research ;  passing  lightly  over  events  of  minor  importance,  and  reserving 
himself  for  those  momentous  and  interesting  transactions  which  require  to  be  more 
fully  displayed.  The  beauty  of  the  style  has  been  very  generally  noticed,  and  has 
gained  the  applause  of  the  most  competent  judges. 


LNDIAN  TRAITS;  BEING  SKETCHES  OF  THE  MAN- 
NERS, CUSTOMS,  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN 
NATIVES.  By  B.  B.  Thatcher,  Esq.  In  2  vols.  18mo.  With  numerous 
Engravings. 

The  appearance,  character,  and  habits  of  the  North  American  Indians  have  long 
been  a  favourite  and  fertile  theme  for  writers  as  well  as  readers,  and  accurate 
descriptions  of  them  are  equally  instructivo  and  agreeable.  These  form  the  subject 
of  the  present  volumes,  and  they  are  admitted  to  contain  much  correct  and  interest- 
ing information.  A  larger  work,  by  the  same  author,  entitled  "  Indian  Biography," 
treats  of  the  history  of  those  remarkable  members  of  the  human  family :  the  work 
now  under  consideration  makes  no  pretensions  to  that  character,  but  is  entirely  de- 
scriptive ;  and  it  is  entitled  to  high  praise,  not  only  as  being  the  first  attempt  to 
render  the  subject  attractive  to  general  readers,  but  also  for  the  ability  with  which 
the  object  is  accomplished. 

NUBIA  AND  ABYSSINIA.    Comprehending  their  Civil  History, 

Antiquities,  Arts,  Religion,  Literature,  and  Natural  History.     By  the  Rev.  M. 
Russell,  LL.D.     18mo.     With  a  Map  and  Engravings. 

There  is  no  country  in  the  world  more  interesting  than  that  which  was  known  to 
the  ancients  as  "  Ethiopia  above  Egypt,"  the  Nubia  and  Abyssinia  of  the  present  day. 
It  was  universally  regarded  by  the  poets  and  philosophers  of  Greece  as  the  cradle 
of  those  arts  which  at  a  later  period  covered  the  kingdom  of  the  Pharaohs  with  so 
many  wonderful  monuments,  as  also  of  those  religious  rites  which,  after  being 
slightly  modified  by  the  priests  of  Thebes,  were  adopted  by  the  ancestors  of  Homer 
and  Virgil  as  the  basis  of  their  mythology.  A  description  of  this  remarkable  nation, 
therefore,  by  the  well-known  author  of  the  "  View  of  Ancient  and  Modern  Egypt," 
cannot  be  othenvise  than  instructive  and  highly  interesting. 


TALES  FROM  AMERICAN  HISTORY.      By  the  Author  of 

"  American  Popular  Lessons."    In  3  vols.  18mo.    With  Engravings. 

The  writer  of  these  Tales  has  had  in  view  two  chief  purposes,-  the  one  to  con- 
vey to  the  juvenile  reader  a  genera]  i  i  connected  with  the  discovery 
and  subsequent  histon  ol  the  American  continent;  the  othei  to  excite  an  interest 
in  the  subject  which  sha  >r  rnon  minute  ami  extensive  information. 
These  purposes  have  Keen  effected  with  much  success,  and  the  volumes  will  lie 
found   instructive  and   entertaining.      In   the   iiiajoiil)  "t    instances,   the   Tales  have 

I. ccn  selected  with  refi  ie  illustration  of  some  moral  principle;  and  the 

frequent  opportunities  afforded  lor  theintro  reflections  leading  to  the  cul- 

tivation ot   p  ,  moii   have   been  ablj  and  zealousl\  improved.      \s  .i  school- 

book  this  collection  nt  Historical  Tales  is  calculated  to  be  eminently  servici 
and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  their  introduction  into  seminaries  will  be  attended 
with  both  pleasure  and  advantage  to  the  scholars. 

HLISTORYOFTHEREFORMFDRI'.LKilOiN  IN  FRANCE. 

By  the  Rev.  E.  Smkdlbt,  M.A.     In  2  vols.  l8mo.     With  Portraits. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    WORKS. 


LETTERS  AND  JOURNALS  OF  LORD  BYRON;  with 
Notices  of  his  Life.  By  Thomas  Moore,  Esq.  In  2  vols.  8vo.  With  a  Por- 
trait. 

By  unbiased  critics  Byron's  Letters  have  been  pronounced  equal,  if  not  superior,  in 
point  of  vigour,  interest,  variety,  and  liveliness,  to  any  that  have  yet  adornpd  this 
branch  of  our  Literature.  The  present  edition  is  printed  on  large  type  and  good 
paper,  and  in  a  convenient  form. 

THE  LIFE  OF  NELSON.  By  Robert  Southey,  LL.D. 
18mo.     With  a  Portrait. 

This  Biography  has  been  pronounced  one  of  the  Laureate's  most  successful  efforts  : 
the  enthusiastic  and  romantic  character  of  Nelson  furnished  a  congenial  subject,  and 
he  has  treated  it  with  consummate  ability.  The  errors  of  the  fortunate  and  gallant 
admiral  are  fairly  and  fearlessly  exposed  ;  while  the  nobler  elements  of  his  mind,  his 
heroic  courage,  his  perseverance,  and  his  insatiable  appetite  for  glory,  as  well  as  the 
great  actions  in  which  thoy  are  displayed,  are  described  and  illustrated  with  a  happy 
choice  of  language  and  most  felicitous  effect. 

LIFE  OF  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS.  By  Henry  Glass- 
ford  Bell,  Esq.     In  2  vols.  18mo.     With  a  Portrait. 

It  is  now  generally  admitted  that  great  injustice  has  been  done  to  the  character  of 
Mary,  and  that  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  her,  to  say  the  least,  guiltless  of  the 
darker  offences  charged  against  her.  Mr.  Bell  has  undertaken  her  vindication,  and, 
having  investigated  the  facts  with  uncommon  industry  and  patience,  he  has  succeeded 
in  establishing  a  conviction  of  her  entire  innocence.  The  sympathy  excited  by  the 
story  of  her  beauty  and  her  misfortunes  is  now  heightened  by  the  assurance  of  her 
wrongs.  Mr.  Bell's  is  considered  the  most  affecting,  as  well  as  the  most  impartial 
life  of  Mary  that  has  been  written. 

MEMOIRS  OF  THE  EMPRESS  JOSEPHINE.  By  John 
S.  Memes,  LL.D.      18mo.     With  Portraits. 

Amid  the  turmoils,  the  vast  achievements,  the  ambitious  aspirings,  and  the  com- 
plicated intrigues  which  mark  the  era  of  Napoleon's  greatness,  it  is  refreshing  to  pursue 
the  elegant  and  gentle  course  of  Josephine,  whose  affection  for  the  conqueror  and 
native  goodness  of  heart  were  so  often  made  the  instruments  of  mercy,  and  whose 
persuasive  voice  was  ever  ready  to  interpose  between  his  wrath  and  its  trembling 
object.  Placid  in  situations  peculiarly  trying,  Josephine  preserved  her  character 
unsullied,  and  the  story  of  her  life  abounds  with  occasions  for  the  respect  and  admi- 
ration of  the  reader.  The  author  has  performed  his  task  with  great  ability,  and  the 
public  is  indebted  to  him  for  one  of  the  most  delightful  biographies. 

MEMOIRS  OF  CELEBRATED  FEMALE  SOVEREIGNS. 

By  Mrs.  Jameson.     In  2  vols.  18mo. 

The  intention  of  this  work  is  to  illustrate  the  influence  which  a  female  government 
has  had  generally  on  men  and  nations,  and  that  which  the  possession  of  power  has 
had  individually  on  the  female  character.  The  didactic  form  of  history  or  biography 
has  not  always  been  adhered  to ;  incidents  and  characters  are  treated  rather  in  a 
moral  than  in  a  political  or  historical  point  of  view  ;  and  public  affairs  and  national 
evrnts  are  not  dwelt  upon,  except  as  connected  with  the  destiny,  or  emanating  from 
the  passions  or  prejudices  of  the  individual  or  sovereign.  The  Lives  form  an  admi- 
rable illustration  of  the  female  character,  and  the  lessons  they  furnish  abound  with 
instruction,  while  the.  incidents  recorded  are  interesting,  not  only  in  themselves,  but 
as  authentic  details  of  remarkable  personages  whom  circumstances  or  personal  quali- 
ties have  invested  with  claims  to  our  attention. 

RECORDS  OF  MY  LIFE.  By  the  late  John  Taylor,  Esq. 
Author  of  "  Monsieur  Tonson."     Complete  in  one  volume,  8vo. 


THE    LIFE    OF    NAPOLEON   BONAPARTE.     By  J.  G. 

Lockhart,  Esq.     With  Portraits.     In  2  vols.  18mo. 

This  celebrated  work  contains  an  epitome  of  all  that  has  been  proved  to  be  true  con- 
cerning the  character  and  actions  of  the  most  extraordinary  man  of  the  last  thousand 
years.  The  English  language  possesses  no  other  authentic  epitome  of  his  history  ; 
and,  notwithstanding  the  smallness  of  the  limits  within  which  it  is  compressed,  the 
narrative  throughout  is  clear,  distinct,  and  copious.  The  life  of  Napoleon,  doubly  in- 
teresting when  relieved  of  the  tediousness  of  useless  detail,  has  never  been  better  told. 
The  work  is  written  with  commendable  impartiality,  and  the  author  has  been  care- 
ful to  interweave  with  his  narrative  nil  the  new  illustrations  and  anecdotes  furnished 
by  Bourrienne,  and  other  French  writers,  whose  memoirs  have  appeared  since  the 
publication  of  the  great  work  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  from  which  a  large  portion  of  his 
materials  was  derived.  As  an  evidence  of  the  amazing  popularity  of  this  History,  it 
is  stated  that  more  than  27000  copies  of  it  have  been  disposed  of  in  Great  Britain 
alone. 

THE  LIFE  OF  FREDERIC  THE  SECOND,  King  of 
Prussia.     By  Lord  Dover.     In  2  vols.  18mo.     With  a  Portrait. 

Frederick  II.  lived  in  an  age  among  the  most  remarkable  in  the  annals  of  the 
world.  He  was  one  of  those  men  who  constitute  an  epoch ;  who,  by  their  paramount 
influence  upon  the  events  of  a  particular  period,  impress  it,  in  a  degree,  with  character- 
istics resulting  from  their  own  peculiar  sentiments,  habits,  and  proceedings  ;  who  may 
be  considered  monuments  on  the  road  of  ages  to  designate  certain  divisions  of  time. 
But,  apart  from  the  character  of  Frederic,  the  great  incidents  in  the  midst  of  which 
he  lived  and  moved,  and  in  which  he  was  a  prominent  actor,  render  this  period  of 
European  history  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  important;  and  it  has  been  ably 
delineated  by  the  modern  historian  of  the  Prussian  monarch.  Lord  Dover  has  long 
been  favourably  known  as  the  Hon.  Mr.  Ellis,  and  his  Life  of  Frederic  has  much 
enhanced  his  reputation.  It  is  honourable  to  him,  considering  the  irreligious  character 
of  Frederic,  that  he  has  nowhere  rendered  vice  attractive,  and  that  his  pages  are 
studiously  guarded  from  the  slightest  contamination  of  infidelity. 

THE    LIFE    AND    ACTIONS    OF    ALEXANDER   THE 

GREAT.     By  Rev.  J.  Williams.     With  a  Map.     18mo. 

This  volume  fills  a  blank  in  the  historical  library,  and  furnishes  an  excellent  manual 
for  the  student.  It  is  not  confined  to  the  mere  exploits  and  adventures  of  the  Mace- 
donian hero,  although  they  constitute  the  leading  topic,  but  contains  a  masterly  view 
of  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  and  of  the  manners,  arts,  and  sciences  of  the  Greeks, 
Persians,  Egyptians,  Arabs,  and  Indians,  and  other  nations  whom  he  visited  or  con- 
quered. The  story  is  well  and  elegantly  told,  and  conveys  a  more  distinct  and 
accurate  idea  of  the  ancient  Napoleon  than  is  to  be  found  in  any  other  history.  In  the 
perusal,  the  curiosity  of  the  reader  is  gratified  as  well  as  stimulated,  and  his  mind  is 
moved  to  profitable  reflection. 

LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  GEORGE  THE  FOURTH.    AViih 

Anecdotes  of  Distinguished  Persons  of  the  last  Fifty  Years.     By  Rev.  George 
Crolv.      18  mo. 

The  regency  and  reign  of  this  monarch  occupied  one  of  the  most  eventful  and  in- 
terest] ol  English  history,  not  only  from  the  magnitude  and  importance  of 
their  political  occurrences,  bul  also  from  the  vast  improvements  in  science  and  the 
arts  by  which  they  were  distinguished,  and  the  number  of  eminent  individuals  who 
flourit  i  The  character  of  George  himself  was  not  the  least  re- 
ile  among  those  ol  the  principal  personages  of  the  time,  and  it  has  been 
handled  by  Mr.  Croly  with  a  just  ami  fearless,  bul  nol  uncharitable  spirit.  His  per 
captions  are  close,  keen,  and  accurate,  and  his  language  singularly  terse  and  energetic. 
His  work  will  be  of  the  highest  value  to  the  future  hist. man. 

MEMOIRS  OF  THE  DUCHESS  D'ABRANTES  (Madame 

Junot).     In  one  volume,  8vo.     With  a  Portrait. 


J 

Biographical   Works  Published  by  J.  fy  J.  Harper.  9  ' 


LIFE  of  LORD  BYRON.   By  J.  Galt,  Esq.   18mo.    (40  cents.) 

Thfi  splendour  of  Lord  Byron's  fame,  and  the  interest  attendant  upon  the  story  of 
his  eventful  life  and  early  death,  have  combined  to  render  his  biography  a  work  of 
more  than  usual  attraction.  Mr.  Gait  enjoyed  the  advantages  consequent  upon  a 
long  and  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  noble  poet,  and  has  given  a  striking  and 
satisfactory  description  of  his  mind  and  character.  One  of  the  greatest  merits  of  the 
work  is  its  strict  impartiality :  the  writer  is  evidently  free  from  prejudice  either  fa- 
vourable or  adverse  to  his  subject,  and  tells  what  he  knows  or  believes  to  be  the  truth, 
without  any  bias  from  envy,  ill-will,  or  affection. 

THE  LIFE    OF   SIR   ISAAC    NEWTON.     By   Sir  David 

Brewster,  K.B.,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.     18mo.     With  Engravings. 

This  is  the  only  extended  Life  of  the  greatest  of  English  philosophers  ever  given 
to  the  public.  In  attempting  to  supply  a  vacancy  in  philosophic  and  scientific  htera- 
ture,»Sir  David  Brewster,  himself  one  of  the  most  profound  and  eminent  savans  of  the 
age,  has  not  only  sought  out  from  resources  hitherto  unknown  and  inaccessible  to 
previous  writers  every  fresh  and  novel  particular  of  Newton's  lite,  but  has  given  the 
most  lucid  explanations  of  his  great  discoveries,  and  the  steps  by  which  they  were 
accomplished  ;  and  has  been  remarkably  successful  in  rendering  these  intelligible  to 
all  classes  of  readers. 

THE  LIVES  OF  THE  MOST  EMINENT  BRITISH  PAIN- 

TERS  AND  SCULPTORS.     By  Allan  Cunningham.     In  5  vols.  18mo. 
With  Portraits.* 

The  author  has  collected,  in  these  small  volumes,  a  history  of  art  in  England,  and 
the  lives,  characters,  and  works  of  its  most  eminent  professors, — the  materials  of 
which  were  previously  scattered  through  many  volumes,  inaccessible  and  uninviting 
to  the  mass  of  readers.  The  critical  observations  profusely  scattered  through  these 
biographies  will  render  them  useful  to  the  student,  while  the  personal  anecdotes 
with  which  they  abound  make  them  equally  alluring  to  the  ordinary  reader.  The 
labours  and  struggles  of  genius,  the  success  of  perseverance,  and  the  inutility  of 
talent  unallied  to  prudence,  as  exemplified  m  these  narratives,  afford  a  useful  moral 
lesson,  while  the  incidents  which  illustrate  them  become  the  source  of  pleasure  and 
entertainment. 

THE  LIVES  OF  CELEBRATED  TRAVELLERS.  By 
James  Augustus  St.  John.     In  3  vols.  ISmo. 

Every  man  whose  mind  can  sympathize  with  human  nature  under  all  its  various 
aspects,  and  can  detect  passions,  weaknesses,  and  virtues  like  his  own  through  the 
endless  disguises  effected  by  strange  religions,  policies,  manners,  or  climates,  must 
peruse  the  relations  of  veracious  travellers  with  satisfaction  and  advantage.  The 
author  of  these  volumes  has  with  great  industry  and  judgment  compiled  a  series  of 
highly  interesting  narratives,  containing  the  most  striking  incidents  in  the  lives  and 
wanderings  of  all  the  celebrated  travellers  that  have  flourished  within  the  last  eight 
centuries,  taking  them  up  in  their  regular  order  of  succession,  presenting  only  the 
attractive  portions,  and  omitting  all  useless  and  unnecessary  details.  The  reader 
will  find  in  these  volumes  the  substance  of  many  ponderous  tomes,  most  of  winch 
are  rare,  and  only  to  be  found  in  the  extensive  European  libraries. 

A  MEMOIR  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  WILLIAM  LIVINGSTON ; 

Member  of  Congress  in  1774,  1775,  and  1776;  Delegate  to  the  Federal  Con-  | 
vention  in  1787,  and  Governor  of  the  State  ot  New-Jersey  from  1776  to  1790. 
With    Extracts  from  his   Correspondence,  and  Notices  of  Various  Members 
of  his  Family.     By  Thlodore  Sedgwick,  Jun.  8vo.  With  a  Portrait. 

This  work  embraces  a  clear  and  interesting  account  of  the  life  and  character  of  an 
eminent  and  excellent  man,  distinguished  for  learning  and  talents,  and  the  most  ex- 
emplary and  patriotic  devotion  to  the  liberties  and  independence  of  his  country.  It 
is  written  in  an  unpretending  manner,  and  with  a  commendable  freedom  from  the  sin 
of  exaggeration,  which  is  so  apt  to  beset  biographers,  and  is  highly  valuable  as  an 
acquisition  to  our  revolutionary  annals. 


LIFE  OF  MOHAMMED  ;  Founder  of  the  Religion  of  Islam, 
and  of  the  Empire  of  the  Saracens.  By  Rev.  George  Bush,  A.M.  With  an 
Engraving.     18mo. 

The  objects  of  the  writer  in  the  preparation  of  this  volume  have  been  condensation, 
elf  amess,  and  accuracy.  It  was  written  expressly  for  the  publishers  by  an  American 
author,  and,  in  addition  to  the  numerous  and  highly  flattering  commendations  bestowed 
upon  it  by  the  press,  it  has  received  the  testimonial  of  republication  in  England.  In 
one  respect,  the  plan  adopted  by  the  author  presents  an  improvement  upon  preceding 
memoirs  of  the  great  impostor,  in  the  careful  collocation  of  the  chapters  of  the  Koran 
with  the  events  of  the  narrative, — a  method  by  which  the  history  is  illustrated  in  a 
remarkable  degree.  The  appendix,  containing  a  series  of  prophetic  investigations, 
is  peculiarly  curious,  learned,  and  valuable. 


THE  LIFE  OF  OLIVER  CROMWELL.  By  Rev.  M.  Rus- 
sell, LL.D.     In  2  vols.  18mo.     With  a  Portrait. 

These  volumes  contain  a  popular  History  of  one  who,  it  is  allowed,  was,  in  many 
respects,  the  most  extraordinary  man  that  England  has  ever  produced.  It  has  been 
the  study  of  the  author,  while  he  availed  himself  of  the  labours  of  all  of  his  prede- 
cessors, to  give  an  unbiased  view  of  Cromwell's  conduct :  in  his  early  life  ;  at  his  first 
entrance  upon  public  business ;  in  his  achievements  as  a  soldier ;  in  his  rise  to 
political  power;  and,  finally,  in  his  government  of  those  kingdoms  which  he  was  the 
first  to  conquer.  The  reverend  gentleman  is  certainly  entitled  to  the  most  unquali- 
fied praise  for  bis  exertions,  and  for  the  new,  curious,  and  important  information 
which  he  has  collected  and  arranged ;  and  those  who  peruse  his  work  will  be  re- 
warded by  much  valuable  information. 

INDIAN  BIOGRAPHY:  or,  an  Historical  Account  of  those 
Individuals  who  have  been  distinguished  among  the  North  American  Natives 
as  Orators,  Warriors,  Statesmen,  and  other  Remarkable  Characters.  By  B.  B. 
Thatcher,  Esq.     In  "  vols.  ISnio.     With  a  Portrait. 

The  extensive  popularity  of  these  Biographies  is  one  of  the  strongest  evidences  of 
their  merit :  within  a  very  few  months  after  the  publication  a  large  edition  was  dis- 
posed of,  and  the  work  was  at  once  established  as  a  standard.  Until  its  appearance 
there  was  no  authentic  or  satisfactory  account  of  the  Indians :  notices  of  a  few  of 
the  most  distinguished  among  them  in  earlier  times  were  to  be  found  scattered  through 
the  pages  of  various  historical  works,  but  the  number  was  very  limited,  and  it  might 
be  said  that  all  knowledge  of  their  true  character,  and  of  the  traits  for  which  they  were 
remarkable,  was  locked  v.\>  in  manuscripts  or  in  obsolete  publications.  The  writer 
of  these  volumes  has,  with  great  industry  and  perseverance,  explored  thoso  almost 
unknown  stores  of  information,  and  produced  a  work  of  the  highest  character  for 
candour,  extent,  and  accuracy.  It  has  been  truly  said,  that  until  .Mr.  Thatcher  took 
upon  himself  the  office  of  their  historian,  full  justice  had  never  been  done  to  the 
characters  and  actions  of  the  aborigines. 

LIVES  of  the  APOSTLES  and  EARLY  MARTYRS  01   the 

CHURCH.    By  the  Author  of  "The  Trial  of  Skill."    18mo.    Juvenile. 

The  style  is  beautifu  ind  the  narrative  it  ed  with  comments 

anil  i  remarkable  for  their  devout  spirit,  and  for  the  clearness  with  which 

they  elucidate  whatever  might  appear  to  the  mind  either  contradictory  or  unintelli- 
1 1  is  impossible  for  any  child  to  read  these  effecting  histories  without  becoming 
interested ;  ana  the  interest  is  so  directed  and  improved  as  to  implant  and  foster  the 
purest  princi  ion  and  morality.    The  most  esteemed  religious  publications 

throughout  the  Union  have  joined  in  cordial  expressions  of  praise  to  this  work. 

THE  LIFE  AND  REMAINS  OF  EDWARD  DANIEL 
CLARKE;  Professor  of  Mineralogy  in  the  University  of  Cambridge.  Il\ 
Rkv.  William  <  >ttkr,  A.  M.     Complete  in  ono  volume,  8vo. 


Biographical   Works  Published  by  J.  fy  J.  Harper.  11  f 


THE  LIFE  OF  WICLIF.     By  Charles  Webb  Le  Bas,  A.  M. 

18mo.     With  a  Portrait. 

The  object  of  the  author  has  been  to  produce,  within  a  reasonable  compass,  the 
substance  of  the  information  which  has  been  preserved  to  us  relative  to  this  very  ex- 
traordinary man, — a  man  whose  strength  of  character  made  an  impression  on  the 
mind  of  his  country  which  h;is  never  been  effaced.  The  volume  embraces,  it  is 
believed,  all  the  important  information  contained  in  the  works  of  Vaughan,  For, 
Lewis,  James,  and  other  writers  on  the  subject,  and  is  certainly  among  the  first 
specimens  of  beautiful  composition  in  the  English  language. 

LUTHER  AND  THE  LUTHERAN  REFORMATION.  By 

John  Scott,  A.  M.     In  2  vols.  18mo.     With  Portraits. 

This  work  is  designed  to  present,  in  a  more  popular  and  convenient  form,  the  sub- 
stanco  of  the  information  collected  by  Milner  and  others  relative  to  the  most  remark- 
able period,  and  the  most  important  event,  which  has  occurred  in  the  history  of  the 
church  since  the  apostles'  days.  To  exhibit  an  account  of  "the  blessed  Reforma- 
tion" which  may  be  deemed  just  and  adequate,  which  may  show  what  the  Reformers 
really  contended  for,  and  in  what  spirit  and  for  what  reasons  they  contended  for  it, 
and  which,  at  the  same  time,  may  prove  attractive  to  the  public,  must  be  judged  an 
object  highly  seasonable  and  of  great  consequence.  Such  a  work  Mr.  Scott  has 
supplied. 

THE  LIFE  OF  ARCHBISHOP  CRANMER.     By  Charles 

Webb  Le  Bas,  A.  M.     In  2  vols.  18mo.     With  a  Portrait. 

Mr.  Le  Bas  has  collected  into  a  compendious  and  interesting  narrative  the  sub- 
stance of  more  voluminous  compilations ;  and  has  presented  to  the  public  a  work,  ele- 
gantly written,  which  will  enable  them  duly  to  estimate  their  obligations  to  the  great 
master-builder  of  the  Protestant  Church  of  England. 

LIVES  AND  VOYAGES  OF  DRAKE,  CAVENDISH,  AND 

DAM  PIER  ;  including  an  Introductory  View  of  the  earlier  Discoveries  in  the 
South  Sea,  and  the  History  of  the  Bucaniers.    18mo.    With  Portraits. 

The  relation  of  the  voyages,  discoveries,  and  adventures  of  early  and  celebrated 
English  navigators  is,  in  so  far,  a  history  of  the  rise  of  her  naval  power.  In  this 
volume  are  contained  the  lives  of  three  of  the  most  eminent ;  and,  from  the  very 
nature  of  the  subject,  it  presents  much  curious  and  valuable  information,  gleaned 
from  many  sources,  and  in  every  instance  verified  by  scrupulous  examination  and 
reference  to  original  documents.  Early  Spanish  Discovery  in  the  South  Seas,  and 
the  first  circumnavigation  of  the  globe  by  Magellan,  form  a  subordinate  but  appro- 
priate branch  of  the  work ;  and  the  subject  is  completed  by  the  History  of  the 
Bucaniers, — those  daring  rovers  whose  wild  adventures  afford  so  much  to  charm 
the  youthful  mind,  and  form  one  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  the  annals  of 
mantime  enterprise  and  adventure. 

SKETCHES  OF  THE  LIVES  OF  DISTINGUISHED  FE- 
MALES. Written  for  Girls,  with  a  view  to  their  Mental  and  Moral  Improve- 
ment.    By  an  American  Lady.     18mo.     With  a  Portrait,  &c. 

As  example  acts  more  forcibly  upon  female  youth  than  on  the  other  sex,  it  is  pecu- 
liarly important  that  the  biography  which  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  young  females 
should  be  either  carefully  selected,  so  as  to  give  them  no  examples  but  those  that  are 
unexceptionable,  or  else  that  it  should  be  accompanied  by  such  remarks  as  will 
enable  them  to  discriminate  between  the  excellences  to  be  imitated  and  the  eccen- 
tricities to  be  avoided.  With  such  views  these  sketches  have  been  prepared.  They 
will  be  found  peculiarly  instructive,  and  are  written  in  a  style  which  cannot  fail  to  in- 
terest. The  volume  is  embellished  with  a  portrait  of  Mrs.  Judson,  &c.,  and  em- 
braces biographical  sketches  of  several  of  the  most  distinguished  females  of  our  own 
country. 


THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  JAY  :  with  Selections  from  his  Cor- 
respondence and  Miscellaneous  Papers.  By  his  Son  William  Jay.  In  2  vols. 
8vo.     With  a  Portrait. 

It  would  be  doing  injustice  to  the  American  public  to  suppose  that  they  do  not  take 
an  interest  in  knowing  the  characters  and  actions  of  those  to  whom  they  are  in- 
debted for  the  liberty  and  prosperity  they  now  enjoy.  Mr.  Jay,  ii  will  be  remembered, 
stood  high  among  those  who  devoted  themselves  to  the  service  of  their  count rv,  and 
acquired  a  title  to  its  gratitude.  The  present  work,  casting  much  new  and  valuable 
light  on  our  early  history,  and  being,  in  all  respects,  worthy  ol  its  great  subject, 
cannot,  therefore,  fail  to  prove  highly  interesting  and  valuable  ;  and  such,  in  fact,  it 
has  been  pronounced  by  aM  who  have  perused  it. 


LIFE    OF    THE   REV.  ROBERT   HALL.      By   Olinthus 

Gregory,  LL.D.  &c.     8vo.     With  a  Portrait.     (Embraced  in  the  third  volume 
of  Hall's  complete  works.) 

Dr.  Gregory  has  traced  Mr.  Hall  from  childhood  to  maturity,  from  maturity  to  his 
death,  and,  throughout,  has  presented  a  plain,  simple,  accurate,  and  full  account 
of  him.  He  has  also  traced  him  in  his  social  and  moral  telations,  and  has  showed 
how  his  fine  talents  and  acquirements  became  subordinated  to  the  power  of  Divine 
grace,  and  devoted  to  the  promotion  of  the  glory  of  God  and  the  happiness  of  man. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF  WILLIAM  WIRT,   ESQ. 

With  a  Portrait.      12mo.     (Prefixed  to  "  The  Letters  of  the  British  Spy.") 

Of  such  men  as  Mr.  Wirt  our  countrymen  cannot  know  too  much.    He  is  one 
of  the  great  and  good  men  who  live  for  their  country. 

LIFE   AND   WRITINGS    OF    THE   LATE    ROBERT    C. 

SANDS,  Esq.     In  2  vols.  Svo.     With  a  Portrait. 


THE  LIVES  AND  EXPLOITS  OF  BANDITTI  AND  ROB- 
BERS in  all  Parts  of  the  World.      By  C.  Macfarlane,  Esq.     In  2  vols. 

12mo. 

MY    IMPRISONMENTS:    MEMOIRS   OF  SILVIO  PEL- 

I  LICO  DA  SALUZZO.     Translated  from  the  Italian.     By  Thomas  Roscoe. 
12mo. 

THE  LIFE  AND  DEATH   OF   LORD  EDWARD   FITZ- 
GERALD.   By  Thomas  Moore.   In  2  vols.  12nio.    With  a  Portrait. 


WONDERFUL  CHARACTERS.      Comprising  Memoirs  and 

Anecdotes  of  the  most-Remarkable  Persons  of  every  Age  and   Nation.     Col- 
lected from  the  most  Authentic  Sources.     In  2  vols.  8vo.     (In  Press.) 


ECCENTRICITIES  AND  SKETCHES  OF   COL.  DAVID 
CROCKETT  OF  WEST  TENNESSEE.     12mo. 


(£r  Well-written  sketches  of  tho  Lives  of  Gibbon,  Robertson, 
Brown,  Wesley,  President  Davies,  Dr.  CouJ,  Oapt.  Momrii  Ac, 
are  prefixed  t  < >  their  respective  works. 


VOYAGES,    TRAVELS,  &c. 


A  NARRATIVE  OF  FOUR  VOYAGES,  TO  THE  SOUTH 

SEA,  NORTH  AND  SOUTH  PACIFIC  OCEAN,  CHINESE  SEA, 
ETHIOPIC  AND  SOUTHERN  ATLANTIC  OCEAN,  INDIAN  OCEAN, 
AND  ANTARCTIC  OCEAN.  From  the  year  1822  to  1831.  Comprising 
Critical  Surveys  of  Coasts  and  Islands,  with  Sailing  Directions.  And  an  ac- 
count of  some  new  and  valuable  discoveries,  including  the  Massacre  Islands, 
where  thirteen  of  the  Author's  Crew  were  massacred  and  eaten  by  Cannibals. 
To  which  is  prefixed,  a  Brief  Sketch  of  the  Author's  early  Life.  By  Capt. 
Benjamin  Morrell,  Jun.     8vo.     With  a  Portrait. 

"  We  are  bold  in  saying  that  everybody  will  want  to  read  this  book,  and  our  com- 
munity will  not  be  slow  in  ranking  the  author  as  the  American  Cook  or  Parry." — 
N.  Y.  Weekly  Messenger. 

"  It  does  not  often  fall  to  our  lot  to  be  able  to  commend  a  book  of  this  kind  with  as 
much  confidence  as  we  can  Morrell's  '  Four  Voyages.' ...  It  may  go  in  company 
with  Stuart's  Voyages,  and  Tyerman  and  Bennett's  Journal." — Christia?i  Advocate 
and  Journal. 

"  This  work  is  among  the  first,  if  not  the  first,  of  the  respectable  contributions 
of  American  navigators  to  the  general  stock  of  knowledge  relative  to  the  condition 
of  man.  Its  author  has  traversed  almost  every  sea,  and  visited  every  important  place, 
in  the  southern  hemisphere ;  and,  with  an  eye  ever  watchful  for  interesting  facts, 
and  a  happy  talent  in  recording  them,  he  has  succeeded  in  producing  a  most  in- 
structive volume.  .  .  .  We  have  no  doubt  that  it  will  find  its  way  into  every  library  in 
our  country,  and  secure  a  perusal  from  many  a  'fireside  traveller'  who  desires  an 
acquaintance  with  the  world  without  venturing  the  perils  of  the  deep." — The 
Presbyterian. 

NARRATIVE  OF  A  VOYAGE  TO  THE  ETHIOPIC  AND 
SOUTH  ATLANTIC  OCEAN,  INDIAN  OCEAN,  CHINESE  SEA, 
NORTH  AND  SOUTH  PACIFIC  OCEAN,  in  the  Years  1829,  1830,  and 
1831.  By  Abby  Jane  Morrell,  who  accompanied  her  Husband,  Capt.  Benja- 
min Morrcll,  Jun.,  of  the  Schooner  Antarctic.     12mo.     Portrait. 

The  scenes  and  adventures  of  which  Mrs.  Morrell  was  a  witness  were  highly  in- 
teresting in  their  nature,  and  it  is  believed  that  an  account  of  them,  divested  of 
nautical  technicalities  and  descriptions  purely  maritime,  will  be  read  with  pleasure, 
especially  by  readers  of  her  own  sex  and  country. 


THE  TRAVELS  AND  RESEARCHES  OF  ALEXANDER 

VON  HUMBOLDT;  being  a  condensed  Narrative  of  his  Journeys  in  the 
Equinoctial  Regions  of  America,  and  in  Asiatic  Russia  :  together  with  Analyses 
of  his  more  important  Investigations.  By  W.  MacgillivraYj  A.M.  18mo. 
With  Engravings. 

The  celebrity  enjoyed  by  Baron  Humboldt,  earned  by  a  life  of  laborious  investigation 
and  perilous  enterprise,  and  by  the  most  extensive  contributions  to  science,  renders 
his  name  familiar  to  every  person  whose  attention  has  been  drawn  to  statistics  or 
natural  philosophy ;  and  his  works  are  ranked  among  the  very  first  for  the  splendid 
pictures  of  scen°ry  which  they  contain,  the  diversified  information  which  they  afford 
respecting  objects  of  universal  interest,  and  the  graceful  attractions  with  which  he 
has  invested  the  majesty  of  science.  The  present  volume  contains  an  abridged  ac- 
count of  all  the  travels  and  researches  of  this  eminent  observer  of  nature,  in  which 
nothing  is  omitted  that  can  be  either  interesting  or  useful  to  the  general  reader,  while 
the  several  narratives  are  sufficiently  condensed  to  bring  them  within  the  compass  of 
a  convenient  volume. 

NARRATIVE  OF  DISCOVERY  AND  ADVENTURE  IN 
AFRICA,  from  the  earliest  Period  to  the  Present  Time.  By  Hugh  Murray, 
Esq.     18mo.     With  Engravings. 


14         Voyages,  Travels,  tfc.  Published  by  J.  6f  J.  Harper. 
A  DESCRIPTION  OF    PITCAIRN'S    ISLAND    AND  ITS 

INHABITANTS.  With  an  Authentic  Account  of  the  Mutiny  of  the  Ship 
Bounty,  and  of  the  subsequent  Fortunes  of  the  Mutineers.  By  John  Barrow, 
Esq.     18mo.     With  Engravings. 

The  author  of  this  volume  has  brought  into  one  connected  view  what  had  here- 
tofore appeared  only  in  detached  fragments,  and  some  of  these  even  not  generally 
accessible.  The  story  is  replete  with  interest.  We  are  taught  by  the  Book  of  Sacred 
History  that  the  disobedience  of  our  first  parents  entailed  upon  our  globe  a  sinful 
and  suffering  race  ;  in  our  own  time  there  has  sprung  up  from  the  most  abandoned 
of  this  depraved  family — from  pirates,  mutineers,  and  murderers — a  little  society 
which,  under  the  precepts  of  that  Sacred  Volume,  is  characterized  by  religion,  mo- 
rality, and  innocence.  The  discovery  of  this  happy  people,  as  unexpected  as  it  was 
accidental,  and  every  thing  relating  to  their  condition  and  history,  partake  so  much 
of  the  romantic  as  to  render  the  story  not  ill-adapted  for  an  epic  poem. 

JOURNAL  OF  AN  EXPEDITION  TO  EXPLORE  THE 
COURSE  AND  TERMINATION  OF  THE  NIGER.  With  a  Narrative 
of  a  Voyage  down  that  River  to  its  Termination.  By  Richard  and  John 
Lander.     In  2  vols.  18mo.     With  Portraits,    Maps,  &c. 

With  encouragement  and  assistance  of  a  very  limited  description  these  adventurous 
young  men  embarked  in  an  enterprise  which  in  every  previous  instance  had  terminated 
fatally  ;  and  all  who  knew  the  nature  of  the  climate,  and  the  grievous  hardships  they 
must  encounter,  predicted  that  the  only  intelligence  ever  received  of  them  would  be 
some  obscure  rumour  of  their  destruction.  The  narrative  shows  how  often  these 
predictions  were  on  tho  point  of  being  verified.  They  were  assailed  by  sickness, 
imprisoned  in  filthy  huts,  sold  as  slaves,  plundered,  abused,  and  nearly  sacrificed  to 
the  cupidity  and  revenge  of  the  ferocious  savages.  In  spite  of  all  these  obstacles,  by 
means  of  patience,  perseverance,  enthusiasm;  and  courage,  they  finally  triumphed 
over  every  difficulty  and  completely  gained  the  object  of  their  mission,  thus  effecting 
the  most  important  and  apparently  the  most  hopeless  geographical  discovery  of  the 


NARRATIVE  OF  DISCOVERY   AND    ADVENTURE   IN 

THE  POLAR  SEAS  AND  REGIONS.  By  Hugh  Murray,  Esq.  18mo. 
Engravings. 

A  NARRATIVE  OF  THE  EARLY  PORTUGUESE  AND 

ENGLISH  VOYAGES  TO  INDIA,  and  an  Account  of  the  Navigation  of 
the  Indian  Seas.  By  Huoh  Murray,  Esq.  and  Captain  Clarence  Dalrym- 
i>le.     [Nos.  47,  48,  &  49  of  the  Family  Library.]  18mo.    Engravings. 

LIVES  AND  VOYAGES  OF  DRAKE,  CAVENDISH,  AND 

DAMPIER  ;  including  an  Introductory  View  of  the  earlier  Discoveries  in  the 
South  Sea,  and  the  History  of  the  Bucaniers.   18mo.    With  Portraits. 


VIEW  OF  THE  PROGRESS  OF  DISCOVERY  ON  THE 

MORE  NORTHERN  COASTS  OF  AMERICA,  from  the  earliest  Period 
to  the  Present  Time.  Including  the  early  Voyages  of  Cabot,  the  French,  &c, 
and  the  Travels  of  Hearne,  Mackenzie,  Franklin,  and  others.  By  Patrick 
Fraser  Tytler,  Esq.     18mo.     With  Engravings. 


\AKR\TIVK  OF  VOYAGES  UNDERTAKEN  TO  EX- 
PLORE  THE  SHORES  OF  AFRICA,  AKARIA,  AND  MADAGASCAR, 
hy  command  of  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Admiralty.  By  Cant.  W.  F. 
W.  Owkn.     Iii  a  vols.  12mo. 


POLYNESIAN  RESEARCHES  during  a  Residence  of  nearly 

Eight  Years  in  the  Society  and  Sandwich  Islands.     By  William  Ellis.     In 
4  vols.  12mo.     Engravings. 

"  This  is  the  most  interesting  work,  in  all  its  parts,  we  have  ever  perused." — Quar- 
terly Review. 

"The  simplicity  of  the  narrative, — the  graphic  beauty  of  many  of  the  descriptions 
— and  the  moral  grandeur  of  the  whole  subject  of  these  volumes,  are  calculated  to 
produce  the  most  powerful  and  salutary  impression  on  every  religious  and  cultivated 
mind." — Orme's  Discourse  on  t!ie  South  Sea  ^Iission.. 

"  Mr.  Ellis's  volumes  are  replete  with  the  most  interesting  details,  illustrative  as 
well  of  the  former  condition  and  history,  as  of  the  present  state  of  the  South  Sea 
Islanders.  They  comprise  a  mass  of  curious  and  highly  entertaining  information  re- 
specting their  manners,  customs,  and  traditions." — Eclectic  Review. 

"The  world  is  much  indebted  to  Mr,  Ellis  for  the  information  which  he  has  com- 
municated in  these  volumes ;  and  every  person  of  taste  and  piety  must  be  highly 
gratifipd  with  their  lively  and  beautiful  descriptions  of  scenery  and  natural  history, 
as  well  as  with  the  extraordinary  and  more  than  romantic  narratives,  which  no  one 
could  be  better  qualified  to  relate  than  the  author  himself." — Congregational  Magazine. 
"We  promis-s  our  readers  a  high  degree  of  intellectual  and  Christian  gratification 
in  the  perusal  of  these  entertaining  volumes.  The  author  has  addressed  himself  to 
the  consideration  of  every  question  which  in  general  interests  the  enlightened  trav- 
eller. He  has  aimed  at  promoting  the  advancement  of  science  and  commerce,  as 
well  as  religion.  By  the  happiest  narratives,  and  the  introduction  of  the  most  strik- 
ing incidents,  he  has  preserved  his  work  from  every  approach  of  dullness  and  insip- 
idity. The  whole  production  is  worthy  of  the  author  and  the  cause." — Evangelical 
Magazine. 

"They  are  full  of  incident  and  information  on  missionary,  literary  and  scientific 
topics,  in  connexion  with  Polynesia.  The  author's  style  of  writing  is  engaging,  his 
statements  are  authentic,  and  derived  from  personal  observation,  and  he  is  always 
the  Christian  and  the  missionary,  as  well  as  the  traveller." — Baptist  Magazine. 

"  We  take  this  opportunity  of  strongly  recommending  to  our  readers  Mr.  Ellis's 
Polynesian  Researches.  They  are  highly  honourable  to  the  talents  and  piety  of 
their  author  ;  who,  amidst  arduous  missionary  labours,  has  been  able  to  collect  large 
stores  of  information,  literary,  scientific,  and  popular;  which,  render  his  volumes 
both  useful  and  entertaining." — Christian  Observer. 

"To  the  naturalist,  to  those  who  have  a  taste  for  the  picturesque  of  scenery,  to 
the  philosopher,  and  the  general  observer  of  human  nature,  these  volumes  will  afford 
subjects  of  entertainment  and  reflection  :  but  by  the  Christian,  and  by  those  especi- 
ally whose  zeal  and  hopes  have  been  most  engaged  by  missionary  exertions,  they 
will  be  read  with  the  deepest  attention.  We  recommend  these  volumes  to  the  Chris- 
tian public,  whose  thanks  Mr.  Ellis  will  universally  receive.  He  has,  at  least  ours ; 
and  with  him  we  devoutly  exclaim, '  What  hath  God  wrought !'  " — Methodist  Magazine. 
"  Mr.  Ellis  has  here  compiled,  and  presented  to  the  public,  a  mass  of  valuable  and 
interesting  information,  every  way  deserving  of  general  perusal." — Christian  Guar- 
dian. 


PERILS  OF  THE  SEA  ;  being  Authentic  Narratives  of  Re- 
markable and  Affecting  Disasters  upon  the  Deep.  With  Illustrations  of  the 
Power  and  Goodness  of  God  in  wonderful  Preservations.  18mo.  With  En- 
gravings. 

This  collection  of  remarkable  disasters  and  preservations  has  been  compiled  with 
great  care  from  authentic  sources.  In  making  the  selection  attention  has  been  paid 
to  the  combination  of  interest,  with  illustrations  of  piety  and  fortitude  in  suffering, 
and  of  the  power  and  goodness  of  Providence  in  rescuing  from  destruction  when,  to 
all  appearance,  there  were  no  means  or  prospect  of  deliverance.  The  collection  em- 
braces narratives  of  the  loss  of  the  Kent,  the  Empress,  the  Lady  Hobart,  the  Essex, 
the  Halsewell  East  Indiaman,  the  steam-packet  Rothsay  Castle,  of  five  Wesleyan 
missionaries,  &c.  &c. 


THE    LIVES    OF 
Jambs  Augustus  St.  John. 


CELEBRATED 

In  3  vols.  ISmo. 


TRAVELLERS.   By 


16        Voyages,  Travels,  <§-c.  Published  by  J.  Sf  J.  Harper. 

SKETCHES  OF  TURKEY  IN  1831  AND  '32.  By  an  Ameri- 
can.    8vo.     With  numerous  Engravings. 

"  We  do  not  hesitate  to  recommend  it  as  one  of  the  most  entertaining  books  of 
travels  which  have  fallen  in  our  way  for  a  long  time." — N.  Y.  American. 

'■  This  is  truly  a  work  of  a  superior  order,  which  may  be  transmitted  to  Europe 
with  confidence." — The  National  Gazette. 

"A  most  entertaining  and  instructive  work,  written  with  spirit  and  ease,  and,  we 
doubt  not,  with  perfect  candour.     Such  a  book  was  much  wanted." — N.  Y.  Standard. 

"  We  are  happy  to  see  that  the  high  opinion  we  expressed  of  this  work  is  more  than 
confirmed  by  the  united  voice  of  the  press  as  well  as  by  the  multitude  of  its  readers." — 
N.  Y.  Traveler. 

SIR  EDWARD  SE AWARD'S  NARRATIVE  OF  HIS  SHIP- 
WRECK, and  consequent  Discovery  of  certain  Islands  in  the  Caribbean  Sea: 
with  a  Detail  of  many  Extraordinary  and  highly  Interesting  Events  in  his  Life. 
Edited  by  Miss  Jane  Porter.     In  3  vols.  12mo. 

"  We  have  finished  the  perusal  of  this  most  agreeable  work,  and  almost  regret  that 
the  pleasure  of  a  first  perusal  has  gone  by;  though  it  is  one  of  those  books  which 
will  bear  reading  again  and  again." — Commercial  Advertiser. 

CAROLINE  WESTERLEY  ;  or,  the  Young  Traveller  from 
Ohio.     18mo.     With  Engravings. 

This  work  will  prove  instructive  as  well  as  attractive  to  young  persons.  In  its 
pages  genius,  nature,  morality,  and  religion  have  been  brought  into  happy  combina- 
tion.    It  is  replete  with  sound  and  rational  piety,  judicious  remark,  and  right  feeling. 

THE     LIFE    AND    REMAINS    OF    EDWARD    DANIEL 

CLARKE.     By  Rev.  Daniel  Ottkr,  A.M.     8vo. 


A  SUBALTERN'S  FURLOUGH  :    descriptive  of  Scenes  in 

various  Parts  of  the  Lnited  Stales,  Upper  and  Lower  Canada,  New-Brunswick, 
and  Nova-Scotia,  during  the  Summer  and  Autumn  of  1832.  By  Lieut.  E  T. 
Coke.     In  2  vols.  L2mo. 

OBSERVATIONS  ON  PROFESSIONS,  LITERATURE, 
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CANADA,  made  during  a  Residence  there  in  1832.  By  the  Rev.  Isaac  Fid- 
ler.     12mo. 

THREE  YEARS  IN  NORTH  AMERICA.  By  James  Stuart, 
Esq.     In  2  vols.  12mo. 


THE    CONDITION    OF    GREECE    IN    1827  AND  1828; 

being  an  Exposition  <>l"  tli"  Poverty,  1  >i>.t r.-^.-,  and  Misery  to  which  the  Inhabi- 
tants have  been  reduced  by  the  Destruction  of  iheir  Towns  and  Villages,  and 

the  R  their  Country  by  I irciless  Turkish  Foe.     By  Col.  Jonathan 

P.  Millek,  of  Vermont.     With-a  .Map. 

LETTERS  FROM  THE  yEGEAN.    By  James  Emerson,  Esq. 

8vo. 

DOMESTIC   MANNERS  OF  THE  AMERICANS.     By  Mrs. 

Trolloi'i..     Fourth  Edition,     Complete  in  One  Volume,  8vo.     Plates. 


WORKS    ON    THEOLOGY,   &c. 


THE    WORKS    OF    THE    REV.   ROBERT  HALL,   A.M. 

With  a  brief  Memoir  of  his  Life,  by  Dr.  Gregory,  and  Observations  on  his 
Character  as  a  Preacher,  by  Rev.  John  Foster.  Edited  by  Olinthus  Greg- 
ory, LL.D.     In  3  vols.  8vo.     With  a  Portrait. 

•  "We  cannot  too  highly  commend  this  work  to  the  notice  of  the  public,  whether  we 
regard  the  pure  and  elevated  principles  it  contains,  or  the  intellectual  vigour  with 
which  they  are  expressed.  Robert  Hall  was  no  ordinary  man.  His  mind  com- 
muned with  eternal  truth,  and,  drawing  from  this  fountain,  he  was  able  to  rivet  the 
attention  of  his  hearers;  and  he  yet  speaks,  by  his  writings,  in  a  language  which 
cannot  fail  to  interest  and  delight  both  the  scholar  and  the  Christian." — New-York 
Journal  of  Commerce. 

"  To  praise  the  writings  of  Robert  Hall  would  be  as  presumptuous  as  it  is  unne- 
i  cessary.  .  .  .  This  complete  edition  of  Hail's  works  is  under  the  superintendence 
t  of  editors  fully  competent  to  their  task,  and  worthy  of  the  writer.  .  .  .  Every  advan- 
tage arising  from  judicious  arrangement  and  scrupulous  correction  will  belong  to  it, 
while  the  original  matter,  historical  and  critical,  will  greatly  enhance  its  value." — 
The  Churchman. 


A  DICTIONARY  OF  THE  HOLY  BIBLE.     Containing  an 

Historical  Account  of  the  Persons  ;  a  Geographical  and  Historical  Account  of 
Places  ;  a  Literal,  Critical,  and  Systematical  Description  of  other  Objects, 
whether  Natural,  Artificial,  Civil,  Religious,  or  Military  ;  and  an  Explanation 
of  the  Appellative  Terms  mentioned  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  ;  the 
whole  comprising  whatever  important  is  known  concerning  the  Antiquities  of 
the  Hebrew  Nation  and  Church  of  God  ;  forming  a  sacred  Commentary,  a 
Body  of  Scripture  History,  Chronology,  and  Divinity  ;  and  serving  in  a  great 
measure  as  a  Concordance  to  the  Holy  Bible.  By  the  Rev.  John  Brown,  of 
Haddington.  With  a  Life  of  the  Author,  and  an  Essay  on  the  Evidence  of 
Christianity.     Complete  in  One  Volume,  8vo. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  inform  the  public  that  the  present  is  the  only  perfect  edi- 
tion of  this  work  published  in  the  United  States. 

A  CONCORDANCE  TO  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES  OF 

THE  OLD  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT.  By  John  Brown,  of  Hadding- 
ton.    32mo. 

The  smallest  form  in  which  this  concordance  has  ever  been  printed.  It  is  perfect, 
however,  and  the  type  is  so  clear  that  it  can  be  easily  read. 

EVIDENCE    OF   THE    TRUTH    OF  THE    CHRISTIAN 

RELIGION,  derived  from  the  iiteral  Fulfilment  of  Prophecy.  By  Rev.  Alex- 
ander Keith.      12mo. 

Of  the  estimation  in  which  this  volume  is  held  in  England  evidence  is  afforded  by 
the  following  remark :  "  Few  more  satisfactory  works  in  confirmation  of  the  inspira- 
tion of  Scripture  have  appeared  within  our  own  tune  than  that  of  Mr.  Keith."  The 
writer  whose  testimony  is  thus  given  is  the  Rev.  Dr.  Shuttleworth,  Warden  of  New 
College,  Oxford.  The  work  is  so  justly  appreciated  in  Edinburgh  that  it  has  passed 
through  six  editions ;  and  parts  of  it  have  been  published  in  tracts  in  English,  French, 
and  German. 


THE  SACRED  HISTORY  OF  THE  WORLD,  as  displayed 
in  the  Creation  and  Subsequent  Events  to  the  Deluge.  By  Sharon  Turner, 
Esq.     18mo. 

HISTORY  of  THE  REFORMED  RELIGION  IN  FRANCE 

By  Rev.  Edward  Smedley,  M.A.     In  2  vols.     18mo. 


ON  THE  IMPROVEMENT  OF  SOCIETY  BY  THE  DIF- 
FUSION OF  KNOWLEDGE.  By  Thomas  Dick,  LL.D.  18mo.  With 
Engravings. 

The  author  of  the  Christian  Philosopher,  the  Philosophy  of  Religion,  and  the  Phi- 
losophy of  a  Future  State,  has  earned  for  himself  a  title  to  the  name  of  a  benefactor 
of  mankind.  For  years  he  has  been  successfully  engaged  in  the  improvement  of  his 
fellow-beings,  by  the  dissemination  of  useful  knowledge,  and  correct  ideas  upon  sub- 
jects of  the  highest  importance.  In  the  present  masterly  treatise  he  has  gathered 
together  an  almost  inconceivable  mass  of  established  and  striking  facts  having  relation 
to  every  department  of  science  connected  and  improved  by  sound  and  judicious  obser- 
vations, at  once  tending  to  illustrate  the  advantages  of  knowledge,  to  enlarge  and  direct 
the  mind,  and  to  facilitate  the  acquisition  as  well  as  the  employment  of  useful  truths. 
In  the  progress  of  his  work  he  explains  and  removes  the  causes  of  numberless  errors, 
concerning  the  phenomena  of  the  mental  and  physical  world  ;  points  out  the  true,  path 
and  the  most  effectual  means  of  inquiry ;  exemplifies  the  pleasures  and  benefits  of 
mental  cultivation:  and  exalts  the  strongest  desire  for  the  improvement  of  the 
faculties,  by  the  singularly  familiar  and  beautiful  course  of  his  reasoning,  which  in 
itself  furnishes  to  the  reader  an  ample  source  of  enjoyment.  The  book  is  one  which 
cannot  be  laid  aside  unfinished ;  it  enchains  the  attention  with  all  the  force  of  the 
most  highly  wrought  incidents  of  fiction,  while  it  impresses  the  mind'with  an  exalted 
sense  not  only  of  the  truth,  but  of  the  intrinsic  and  measureless  value  of  its  revelations. 

THE  COMFORTER ;  or,  Extracts  selected  for  the  Consola- 
tion of  Mourners,  under  the  Bereavement  of  Friends  and  Relations.  By  a 
Village  Pastor.      12mo. 

This  work  is  intended  to  suggest  topics  of  religious  consolation  to  the  afflicted  ; 
and  the  Christian  community  are  assuredly  under  great  obligations  to  the  "  Village 
Pastor"  for  his  successful  attempt  to  exhibit  to  them  at  once  the  comforts  which  flow 
in  upon  the  bereaved  and  distressed  believer.  In  the  happy  selections  he  has  made, 
he  has  had  particular  regard  to  the  writings  of  such  men  as  were  experienced  in  the 
ways  of  affliction,  and  over  whom  it  has  shed  its  sanctifying  influence.  It  has  been 
warmly  recommended  by  clergymen  of  different  denominations,  as  well  as  by  the  re- 
ligious periodicals. 


SUNDAY  EVENINGS .  or,  an  easy  Introduction  to  the  Read- 
ing of  the  Bible.  [Designed  for  Sunday  Reading  and  Sunday-School  Libra- 
ries.]    3  vols.  18mo.     With  Engravings. 

The  title  of  this  excellent  little  work  sufficiently  explains  its  object.  As  an  intro- 
duction to  the  knowledge  of  Scripture  History,  and  an  incentive  to  the  study  of  the 
Sacred  Volume,  it  is  calculated  to  produce  the  most  happy  effects  upon  the  minds  of 
children ;  and  the  simplicity  of  the  language  preserves  to  the  story  all  those  charms 
which  are  inherent  in  the  narrative,  but  are  sometimes  lost  to  very  youthful  readers 
by  their  want  of  a  perfect  understanding  of  the  words  they  read.  Besides  a  developed 
and  connected  view,  in  easy  language,  of  the  Scripture  story  itself,  the  author  has 
endeavoured  to  intersperse  in  the  narrative  such  notices  of  the  countries  spoken  of, 
together  with  such  references  to  the  New  Testament  and  practical  remarks,  as  would 
tend  to  make  the  book  either  more  interesting,  more  intellectually  improving,  or  more 
valuable  in  a  moral  and  religious  light :  and  ii  cannot  lail  of  obtaining  the  approbation 
of  all  judicious  and  |>i<  his  parents,  and  of  proving,  bj  the  blessing  of  God,  an  assistance 
to  the  Christian  mother,  in  giving  to  her  children  an  early  knowledge  and  love  of  his 
Sacred  Word. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.  By  Rev.  II.  II.  Milman. 
In  3  vols.  L8mo.     With  Engravings. 

A  TREATISE  ON  THE  MILLENNIUM;  in  which  the  pre- 

vailing  Theories  OB  that  Subject  are  carefully  examined  ;  and  the  true  Scrip- 
tural Doctrine  attempted  to  be  elicited  and  established.  By  GcOBfll  BuiH, 
A.M-     19mo. 


Works  on  Theology,  $c.  Published  by  J.  $  J.  Harper.       19 


LUTHER  AND  THE  LUTHERAN  REFORMATION.  By 

John  Scott,  A.M.     In  2  vols.  ISmo.     With  Portraits. 


THE  LIFE  OF  ARCHBISHOP  CRANMER.     By  Charles 

Webb  Le  Bas,  A.M.     In  2  vols.  18mo.     With  a  Portrait. 


THE  LIFE  OF  WICLIF.     By  Charles  Webb  Le  Bas,  A.M. 
18mo.     With  a  Portrait. 


THE  CONSISTENCY  OF  THE  WHOLE  SCHEME  OF 

REVELATION  with  Itself  and  with  Human  Reason.     By  Philip  Nicholas 
Shuttleworth,  D.D.     18mo. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  By  Rev.  G.  R.  Gleio, 
A.M.     In  2  vols.     18mo.     With  Maps. 

SERMONS  ON   SEVERAL  OCCASIONS.     By  Rev.  John 

Wesley,  A.M.     Containing  a  Number  of  Sermons  never  before  published  in 
this  Country.     In  3  vols.  8vo. 

PRESENT  STATE  OF  CHRISTIANITY,  and  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Establishments  for  its  Propagation  in  all  Parts  of  the  WTorld.  Edited 
by  Frederic  Shoberl.     12mo. 

KEY  TO  THE  REVELATION.  In  thirty-six  Lectures,  tak- 
ing the  whole  Book  in  course.     By  Ethan  Smith.     12mo. 


MATHEMATICS. 

AN  ELEMENTARY  TREATISE  ON  MECHANICS.  Trans- 

lated  from  the  French  of  M.  Boucharlat.  With  Additions  and  Emendations, 
designed  to  adapt  it  to  the  Use  of  the  Cadets  of  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy. 
By  Professor  Edward  H.  Courtenay.     8vo. 


ELEMENTS  OF  DESCRIPTIVE  GEOMETRY,  with  their 

Application    to    Spherical    Trigonometry,  Spherical  Projections,   and  Warped 
Surfaces.     By  Professor  Charles  Davies.     Plates.     8vo. 


A  TREATISE  ON  SHADES  AND  SHADOWS,  AND  LIN- 
EAR PERSPECTIVE.     By  Professor  Charles  Davies.     8vo. 


ELEMENTS  OF  SURVEYING.     With  the  necessary  Tables. 

By  Professor  Charles  Davies.     18mo. 


GIBSON'S  SURVEYING.     New  and  Improved  Edition.     By 

J.  Ryan.     8vo. 


A  TABLE  OF  LOGARITHMS,  of  Logarithmic  Sines,  and  a 
Traverse  Table.     12mo. 


NATURAL    AND    MORAL    PHILOSOPHY. 

INQUIRIES  CONCERNING  THE  INTELLECTUAL  POW- 
ERS, AND  THE  INVESTIGATION  OF  TRUTH.  By  John  Aber- 
crombie,  M.D.,  F.R.S.     18mo.     [With  Questions.] 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  MORAL  FEELINGS.     By 

John  Abercrombie,  M.D.,  F.R.S.     18mo. 

In  the  performance  of  his  undertaking  the  accomplished  author  exhibits  the  posses- 
sion of  a  mind  thoroughly  versed  in  the  details  of  the  science  to  which  his  attention  is 
directed,  and  familiar  with  abstract  inquiry.  His  descriptions  of  the  mental  phenom- 
ena are  singularly  lucid,  precise,  and  interesting,  and  his  reasonings  sound,  original, 
and  perspicuous.  Above  all,  he  has  exhibited  philosophy  as  the  handmaid  of  re- 
ligion, and  made  it  manifest  that  all  the  rays  of  knowledge  naturally  converge 
towards  that  one  point  in  which  is  situated  the  throne  of  heavenly  and  eternal  truth. 

The  most  able  and  influential  reviews,  both  of  England  and  the  United  States, 
have  given  the  strongest  encomiums  to  this  admirable  work,  and  it  has  been 
extensively  adopted  in  our  colleges  and  higher  establishments  for  education. 

LETTERS  OF  EULER  ON  DIFFERENT  SUBJECTS  IN 

NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY.  Addressed  to  a  German  Princess.  Translated 
by  Hunter.  With  Notes  and  a  Life  of  Euler,  by  Sir  David  Brewster,  LL.D. 
With  additional  Notes,  by  John  Gkiscom,  LL.D.  With  a  Glossary  of  Scientific 
Terms.     In  2  vols.  18mo.     With  Engravings. 

Of  all  the  treatises  on  Natural  Philosophy  that  have  been  published  in  the  various 
languages  of  Europe  there  is  none  that  has  enjoyed  a  more  extensive  and  permanent 
celebrity  than  that  of  the  famous  mathematician  and  philosopher  Leonard  Euler, 
contained  in  his  letters  to  the  Princess  of  Auhalt.  They  have  been  translated  into 
several  tongues,  and  edition  alter  edition  has  been  published  in  Europe  with  still 
increasing  reputation.  The  most  eminent  savans  of  England  and  France  have 
repeatedly  borne  testimony  to  their  excellence,  not  only  by  the  strongest  expressions 
of  approbation,  but  by  assuming  the  task  of  editing  the  work :  the  latest  who  has 
bestowed  this  mark  of  commendation  was  Sir  David  Brewster,  from  whose  edition 
this  now  published  was  printed.  The  notes  added  by  him  are  copious  and  valuable  ; 
and  the  publishers  of  the  American  edition,  still  more  to  enhance  the  merit  of  the 
work,  have  secured  the  assistance  of  Professor  Griscom,  whose  notes  will  be  found 
numerous  and  of  great  utility. 


LETTERS  ON  NATURAL  MAGIC.  Addressed  to  Sir  Wal- 
ter Scott,  Bart.  By  Sir  David  Brewster,  K.H.,  LL.D.  18mo.  With  En- 
gravings. 

The  author  of  this  volume  passes  under  review  the  principal  phenomena  of  nature, 
and  the  leading  contrivances  of  art  which  hear  the  impress  ot  a  supernatural  charactet . 
and  more  especially  those  singular  illusions  of  sense  in  which  I  he  mest  perfect  organs 
fail  to  perform  their  functions,  or  perform  them  unfaithfully.  These  are  themes  full  of 
interest,  and  worthy  of  the  labour  bestowed  upon  them  b\  Che  philosophic  writer. 

The  eye  and  ear  are,  of  course,  thechifil  01  iption,  and,  accordingly, 

optical  illusions  occupy  a  con  ortionoi  the  volume.    Those  depending  on 

the  ear  succeed,  and,  aitet  been  described  and  explained,  we  are  entertained 

with  amusing  accounts  "f  feal  >,  "I  mechanical  automata,  and  ol  bod 

the  more  popular  wondsrc  ol  chj  mistry.  Under  inch  ol  these  divisions  anecdotes  <>i 
the  most  interesting  kind  illustrati  I  he  author's  explanations,  and  no  subject  in  itscli 
grave  and  important  was  ever  treated  in  a  more  captivating  manner. 

ON  THE  IMPROVEMENT  OF  SOCIETY  BY  THE  DIF- 
FUSION OF  KNOWLEDGE:  or,  an  Illustration  of  the  Advantages  which 
would  result  from  a  more  General  Dissemination  of  Rational  and  Scientific  In- 
formation among  ull  Hanks.  By  Thomas  Dick,  LL.D.  lSino.  With 
Engruvings. 


NATURAL    HISTORY. 


THE  BOOK  OF  NATURE.     By  John  Mason  Good,  M.D., 

F.R.S.     To  which  is  now  prefixed,  a  Sketch  of  the  Author's  Life.     Complete 
in  one  volume,  8vo. 

"  This  work  is  certainly  the  best  philosophical  digest  of  the  kind  which  we  have 
seen." — Monthly  Review. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  ;  or,  Uncle  Philip's  Conversations  with 

the    Children   about  Tools  and  Trades  among   the   Inferior  Animals.     18mo. 
With  numerous  Engravings. 

THE  NATURAL  HISTORY  of  INSECTS.     With  numerous 

Engravings.     18mo. 

The  study  of  Natural  History  is  at  all  times,  and  to  almost  every  person,  eminently 
pleasing  and  instructive  :  the  object  in  this  admirable  volume  has  been  to  render  it 
doubly  captivating  by  the  plain  and  simple  style  in  which  it  is  treated,  and  by  the 
numerous  engravings  with  which  the  text  is  illustrated.  There  is  no  branch  of  this 
delightful  science  more  pleasing  than  that  which  exhibits  the  wonderful  goodness  and 
wisdom  of  the  Creator,  as  they  are  displayed  in  the  endless  varieties  of  insect  life — 
their  forms,  habits,  capacities  and  works — and  which  investigates  the  nature  and 
peculiarities  of  these  diminutive  tribes  of  animated  existence. 

A  POPULAR  GUIDE  TO  THE  OBSERVATION  OF  NA- 
TURE.    By  Robert  Mudie,  Esq.     18mo.     With  Engravings. 


AN  OUTLINE  OF  THE  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF 
EGYPT.  By  Rev.  Michael  Russell,  LL.D.  [No.  23  of  the  Family  Li- 
brary.]    18mo. 

AN  OUTLINE  of  THE~NATURAL  HISTORY  of  PALES- 
TINE.    By  Rev.  M.  Russell,  LL.D.     [No.  27  Fam.  Lib.]     ISmo. 

AN  OUTLINE  OF  THE  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  NU- 
BIA AND  ABYSSINIA.  By  Rev.  M.  Russell,  LL.D.  18mo.  No.  61 
of  the  Family  Library.]     Engravings. 

DESCRIPTIVE  SKETCHES  OF  THE  NATURAL  HIS- 
TORY OF  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REGIONS.  By  James  Wilson, 
Esq.     18mo.     [No.  53  of  the  Family  Library.]     Engravings. 

ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  CLIMATE,  GEOLOGY,  AND 

NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  POLAR  SEAS  AND  REGIONS  ;  with 
an  Account  of  the  W hale-Fishery.  By  Professors  Leslie  and  Jameson.  With 
Engravings.     [No.  14  of  the  Family  Library.]     18mo. 

ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  ZOOLOGY,  BOTANY,  CLI- 
MATE, GEOLOGY,  AND  MINERALOGY  OF  BRITISH  INDIA.  By 
James  Wilson,  Esq.  R.  K.  Grevii.le,  LL.D.  and  Professor  Jameson.  18mo. 
[Nos.  47,  48,  &  49  of  the  Family  Library.]     Engravings. 

ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  GEOLOGY,  MINERALOGY, 

AND  ZOOLOGY  OF  AFRICA.     By  Professor  Jameson  and  James  Wilson, 
I  Esq.     [No.  16  of  the  Family  Library.]     18mo. 


CLASSICAL    WORKS. 


XENOPHON.  The  Anabasis  :  Translated  by  Edward  Spel- 
man,  Esq.  The  Cyrop^dia  :  Translated  by  the  Hon.  Maurice  Ashlt  Coo- 
per.    In  2  vols.  18mo.     With  a  Portrait. 

SALLUST.  Translated  by  William  Rose,  M.D.  With  Notes. 
18mo.     Portrait. 


CiESAR.     With  Hirtius's   Continuation.     Translated  by  Wil- 
liam Duncan.     2  vols.  18rno.     Portrait. 


CICERO.  The  Orations  Translated  by  Duncan,  the  Offices  by 
Cockman,  and  the  Cato  and  Lcelius  by  Melmofh.  In  3  vols.  18mo.  With  a 
Portrait. 

THE  WORKS  OF  HORACE,  translated  literally  into  English 
Prose.     By  C.  Smart,  A.M.     In  2  vols.  18mo. 

THE  ORATIONS  OF  DEMOSTHENES.  Translated  by 
Thomas  Leland,  D.D.     In  2  vols.  18mo.  Portrait. 


MEDICINE   AND    SURGERY. 

LEXICON   MEDICUM;    OR,   MEDICAL   DICTIONARY; 

Containing  an  Explanation  of  the  Terms  in  Anatomy,  Botany,  Chemistry,  Ma- 
teria Medica,  Midwifery,  Mineralogy,  Pharmacy  Physiology,  Practice  of  Physic, 
Surgery,  and  the  Various  Branches  of  Natural  Philosophy  connected  with  Me- 
dicine. By  Robert  Hooper,  M.D.  With  Additions  from  American  Authors, 
by  Samuel  Akerly,   M.D.      Two  volumes  in   one,  8vo. 

A  DICTIONARY   OF  PRACTICAL    SURGERY :    compre- 

hending  all  the  most  Interesting  Improvements,  from  the  earliest  Times  down 
to  the  Present  Period  ;  an  Account  of  the  Instruments  and  Remedies  employed 
in  Surgery  ;  the  Etymology  and  Signification  of  the  Principal  Terms  ;  and 
Numerous  References  to  Ancient  and  Modern  Works.  By  Samuel  Cooper, 
M.D.  With  numerous  Notes  and  Additions,  embracing  all  the  Principal  Im- 
provements and  Greater  Operations  introduced  and  performed  by  American 
Surgeons.  By  David  Mlrkdi tii  Reesk,  M.D.    In  2  vols.  8vo. 


THE  STUDY  OF  MEDICINE.     By  John  Mason  Good,  M.D. 

New  and  Improved  Edition.     In  press. 

DIRECTIONS  FOR  [NVIGORATING  WD  PROLONGING 
LIFE;  OR,  THE  INVALID'S  ORACLE.  Containing  Peptic  Precepts, 
pointing  out  agreeable  and  effectual  Melhodi  to  prevent  and  relieve  Indigeution, 
and  to  regulate  and  strengthen  the  Action  of  the  Stomach  and  Dowels.  By 
William  Kitchener,  M.D.  Revised  and  Improved,  by  Thomas  S.  Barrett, 
M.D.     lt)mo. 


MISCELLANEOUS    WORKS. 


THE   SWISS    FAMILY  ROBINSON ;    or,  Adventures   of  a 

Father  and  Mother  and  Four  Sons  on  a  Desert  Island.  The  Progress  of  the 
Story  forming  a  clear  Illustration  of  the  first  Principles  of  Natural  History, 
and  many  Branches  of  Science  which  most  immediately  apply  to  the  Business 
of  Life.     In  2  vols.  18mo.     Engravings. 

The  purpose  of  this  pleasing  story  is  to  convey  instruction  in  the  arts  and  Natural 
History,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  inculcate  by  example  principles  which  tend  to  the 
promotion  of  social  happiness.  Every  one  has  heard  of  Robinson  Crusoe,  and  the 
unrivalled  and  long-continued  popularity  of  that  admirable  narrative,  proves  that 
the  tastes  and  feelings  to  which  it  addresses  itself  are  among  the  strongest  and  most 
universal  which  belong  to  human  nature.  The  adventures  of  the  Swiss  family  are 
somewhat  similar  in  character,  and,  of  course,  in  interest;  and  they  illustrate,  in  the 
most  forcible  and  pleasing  manner,  the  efficacy  of  piety,  industry,  ingenuity,  and  good- 
temper,  in  smoothing  difficulties  and  procuring  enjoyments  under  the  most  adverse 
circumstances.  The  story  abounds  with  instruction  and  entertainment,  and  well 
deserves  the  high  encomium  that  has  been  passed  upon  it,  of  being  one  of  the  best 
children's  books  ever  written. 

THE  SON  OF  A  GENIUS.     A  Tale,  for  the  Use  of  Youth. 

By  Mrs.  Hofland.     ISnio.     Engravings. 

This  admirable  story  has  been  too  long  familiar  to  the  public — at  least  to  that  portion 
of  it  which  has  advanced  beyond  the  period  of  childhood — to  require  either  eulogy  or 
description.  It  has  for  many  years  maintained  its  place  among  the  best  and  most 
esteemed  juvenile  works  in  the  English  language ;  and  its  popularity  is  easily 
accounted  for  by  the  touching  interest  of  the  incidents,  and  the  purity  of  the  principles 
it  inculcates  both  of  wisdom  and  religion.  The  publishers  were  induced  to  reprint 
it,  partly  by  the  advice  and  solicitations  of  many  of  their  friends,  and  their  own 
knowledge  of  its  merits,  and  partly  by  the  consideration  that  it  has  long  been  out 
of  print,  and  that  it  was  very  difficult  to  procure  a  copy. 

THE  YOUNG  CRUSOE  ;  or,  the  Shipwrecked  Boy.  Contain- 
ing an  Account  of  his  Shipwreck,  and  Residence  for  Several  Months  alone  upon 
an  Uninhabited  Island.     By  Mrs.  Hofland.     18mo.    Engravings. 

Mrs.  Hofland,  the  admirable  author  of  the  "  Son  of  a  Genius,"  and  other  excellent 
juvenile  productions,  is  also  the  writer  of  this  pleasing  story.  In  its  plan  and 
objects  it  is  somewhat  similar  to  the  "  Swiss  Family  Robinson ;"  and,  like  it, 
will  be  read  with  delight  by  every  little  boy  or  girl  who  can  sympathize  in  the  mis- 
fortunes, or  rejoice  in  the  comforts  and  enjoyments  of  another.  The  style,  the  in- 
cidents, and  the  pervading  spirit  are  all  in  the  highest  degree  excellent, — as,  indeed, 
are  all  the  writings  of  this  accomplished  and  amiable  author.  The  culture  of  the 
youthful  mind  requires  talents  of  a  peculiar  character ;  and,  when  accomplished  with 
ability,  reflects  the  highest  credit  upon  the  successful  teacher.  None  have  been  more 
successful  than  Mrs.  Hofland ;  and  her  name  alone  is  a  sufficient  warrant  for  the 
merits  of  any  book  to  which  it  is  appended. 

THE  CLERGYMAN'S    ORPHAN,  and  Other  Tales.     By  a 

Clergyman.     For  the  Use  of  Youth.     ISmo.     Engravings. 

The  author  of  the  "  Clergyman's  Orphan"  informs  us  that  with  most  of  the  char- 
acters whose  romantic  history  is  here  recorded  he  was  personally  acquainted ;  and 
vouches  that  it  is  substantially  a  narrative  of  facts.  The  object  of  the  work  is  to 
strengthen  in  the  minds  of  young  persons  the  conviction  of  a  special  superintending 
Providence. 


DISCOURSES   AND   ADDRESSES   ON    SUBJECTS    OF 
AMERICAN  HISTORY,  ARTS,  AND  LITERATURE.     By  Golian  C. 

Vkrplanck.     1-iiiu. 


24        Miscellaneous   Works  Published  by  J.  <y  J.  Harper. 


COURT  AND  CAMP  OF   BONAPARTE.     18mo.     With   a 

Portrait  of  Prince  Talleyrand. 

This  volume  has  been  carefully  prepared  as  a  suitable  and  indispensable  com- 
panion to  the  Life  of  Napoleon.  It  contains  the  substance  of  the  many  hundred 
volumes  of  Memoirs,  Lives,  Narratives,  anecdotes,  &c,  connected  with  the  career 
of  Napoleon,  with  which  the  press  of  France  has  been  so  prolific  during  the  last  fifteen 
years.  It  presents  rapid  but  vigorously  drawn  sketches  of  the  emperor's  brothers, 
wives,  sisters,  ministers,  marshals,  and  generals;  and  those  who  wish  to  gain  a 
competent  knowledge  of  "  Xnpoleon  and  his  times"1  will  find  no  work  in  any  language 
which  conveys  so  much  information  in  so  little  space  or  in  a  more  lively  and  agreeable 
manner. 

THE    ORNAMENTS    DISCOVERED.      By    Mrs.   Hughs. 

ISmo.     Engravings. 

The  reputation  of  Mrs.  Hughs  (of  Philadelphia)  as  an  agreeable  and  instructive 
writer  is  already  firmly  established.  She  has  done  much  for  youth,  and  the  present 
volume  will  add  to  the  obligations  they  owe  her.  It  is  written  with  plainness,  yet 
elegance;  and  the  story,  while  it  inculcates  useful  lessons  in  morality  and  religion, 
will  be  found  exceedingly  interesting. 

THE  MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS  OF  THE  REV.  JOHN 

WESLEY.     In  3  vols.  8vo. 

THE  LETTERS  OF  THE  BRITISH    SPY.     By  William 

Wirt,  Esq.     To  which  is  prefixed,  a  Biographical  Sketch  of  the  Author.    12mo. 
With  a  Portrait. 

THE  PERCY  ANECDOTES;  Revised  Edition.  To  which 
is  added,  a  Valuable  Collection  of  American  Anecdotes,  #riginal  and  selected. 
Illustrated  with  Portraits.     Svo. 

ENGLAND  AND  THE  ENGLISH..  By  the  Author  of  "Pel- 
ham,"  "Devereux,"  and  "  Eugene  Aram."     In  2  vols.  12mo. 

THE  COOK'S  ORACLE,  AND  HOUSEKEEPER'S  MAN- 
UAL. Containing  Receipts  for  Cookery,  and  Directions  for  Carving.  Also, 
the  Art  of  composing  the  most  simple  and  most  highly  finished  Broths,  Gravies, 
Soups,  Sauces,  Store  Sauces,  and  flavouring  Essences  ;  Pastry,  Preserves, 
Puddings,  Pickles,  &c.  With  a  complete  System  of  Cookery  for  Catholic 
Families.  By  William  Kitchener,  M.D.  Adapted  to  the  American  Public 
by  a  Medical  Gentleman.      12mo.     Willi  Engravings. 

MODERN  AMERICAN  COOKERY:  Containing  Directions 
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LIVES  OF  THE    APOSTLES  AND   EARLY    MARTYRS 

OF  THE  CHURCH.     18mo.     With  an  Engraving. 

WILD  SPORTS  OF  THE  WEST.  With  Legendary  Tales 
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8vo. 

No  person  who  has  not  seen  Mr.  Crabb's  work  can  conceive  the  number  of 
synonymes  in  the  English  language.  Every  scholar,  and  all  professional  and  public 
men  ought  to  possess  themselves  of  this  work.  Indeed,  no  person  can  read  or  write 
understandingly  without  being  familiar  with  the  legitimate  definition  of  these  innu- 
merable synon  mes. 

"  A  work  of  such  general  credit  among  scholars  needs  no  word  of  commendation 
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NATURAL  HISTORY  ;  or,  Uncle  Philip's  Conversations  with 

the  Children  about  Tools  and  Trades  among  the  Inferior  Animals.  18mo. 
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This  work  has  deservedly  received  ths  highest  encomiums,  not  only  for  the  extent, 
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which  the  ideas  and  language  are  adapted  to  the  tastes  as  well  as  the  capacities  of 
youthful  readers.  But  these  are  not  its  only  or  its  greatest  merits  :  its  highest  claims 
to  praise  are  the  tone  of  sincere  and  earnest  piety  which  pervades  the  conversations, 
and  the  excellence  of  the  precepts  drawn  from  the  wonders  they  disclose. 

A  POPULAR  GUIDE  TO  THE  OBSERVATION  OF 

NATURE  ;  or,  Hints  of  Inducement  to  the  Study  of  Natural  Productions  and 
Appearances,  in  their  Connexions  and  Relations.  By  Robert  Mudie.  18mo. 
With  Engravings. 

The  author  is  an  ardent  lover  of  nature,  and  a  close  obs  rver  of  the  works  of  the 
Creator,and  his  aim  has  been  toawaken  in  his  readers  a  spirit  kindred  to  his  own,  and 
to  point  out  to  the  student  the  true  path  of  inquiry  ;  that  which  alone  can  lead  to  the 
just  perception  and  full  enjoyment  of  the  innumerable  charms  that  lie  scattered  so 
lavishly  around  us  in  every  form  of  animate  and  inanimate  existence.  In  the  accom- 
plishment of  his  undertaking  he  has  produced  a  work  not  more  remarkable  for  its 
originality  and  for  the  extent  and  accuracy  of  the  information  it  conveys,  than  for  the 
novelty  of  its  views,  the  infinite  variety  and  wisdom  of  its  reflections,  and  the  singular 
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of  incalculable  value,  and  to  the  accomplished  scholar  it  recommends  itself  by  the  new 
and  striking  features  with  which  it  invests  the  exhaustless  subject  of  which  it  treats. 

DOMESTIC  DUTIES  ;  or,  Instructions  to  Young  Married  La- 
dies, on  the  Management  of  their  Households,  and  the  Regulation  of  their  Con- 
duct in  the  various  Relations  and  Duties  of  Married  Life.  By  Mrs.  W.  Pabkes. 
With  Alterations  adapted  to  the  American  Reader.      12mo. 

"  The  volume  before  us  is  a  perfect  vade  mecum  for  the  young  married  lady,  who 
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nothing  omitted  with  which  it  behooves  a  lady  to  be  acquainted." — Monthly  Magazine. 

LECTURES   ON   POETRY   AND    GENERAL    LITERA- 

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APICIAN  MORSELS ;  or,  Tales  of  the  Table,  Kitchen,  and 
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cepts; Nutritive  M  xims,  Reflections,  Anecdotes,  &c.  Illustrating  the  Veri- 
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RELIGIOUS  DISCOURSES.     By  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Bart. 
18mo. 


THE   FAMILY   LIBRARY.— Embracing  the  Following  Works 
in  18mo.     With  Plates,  &c. 

Nos.  1,  2,  3,  containing  Milman's  History  of  the  Jews. — 4,  5.  Lockhart's  Life  of  Napo- 
leon Bonaparte. — C.  Southey's  Life  of  Nelson. — 7.  Williams's  Life  of  Alexander  the 
Great. — 8.  Natural  History  of  Insects. — 9.  Gait's  Life  of  Lord  Byron. — 10.  Bush's 
Life  of  Mohammed. — 1 1 .  Scott's  Letters  on  Demonology  and  Witchcraft. — 12,  13.  Gleig's 
History  of  the  Bible. — 14.  Discovery  and  Adventure  in  the  Polar  Seas,  <$-c.  By  Profes- 
sor Leslie,  Professor  Jameson,  and  Hugh  Murray,  Esq. — 15.  Croly's  Life  of  George 
the  Fourth. — 16.  Discovery  and  Adventure  in  Africa.  By  Prof.  Jameson,  James 
Wilson,  Esq.,  and  Hugh  Murray,  Esq. — 17,  18,  19.  Cunningham's  Lives  of  Eminent 
Painters  and  Sculptors. — 20.  James's  History  of  Chivalry  and  the  Crusades. — 21,22. 
Bell's  Life  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. — 23.  Russell's  Ancient  and  Modern  Egypt. — 24. 
Fletcher's  History  of  Poland. — 25.  Smith's  Festivals,  Games,  and  Arnusements. — 26. 
Brewster's  Life  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton. — 27.  Russell's  History  of  Palestine,  or  tht  Holy 
Ijand. — 28.  Memes'  yiemoirs  of  the  Empress  Josephine. — 29.  The  Court  and  Camp 
of  Bonaparte. — 30.  Lives  of  Early  Navigators. — 31.  A  Description  of  Pitcairn's  Island, 
&c. — 32.  Turner's  Sacred  History  of  the  World. — 33,  34.  Mrs.  Jameson's  Memoirs 
of  Celebrated  Female  Sovereigns. — 35,  36.  Landers'  Africa. — 37.  Abercrombie  on  the 
Intellectual  Powers,  <f-c— 38,  39,  40.  St.  John's  Lives  of  Celebrated  TraveUers.-^X,  42. 
Lord  Dover's  Life  of  Frederic  II.  King  of  Prussia. — 43,  44.  Sketches  from  Venetian 
History. — 45,  46.  Thatcher's  Indian  Biography. — 47,  48,  49.  History  of  India. — 50. 
Brewster's  Letters  on  Natural  Magic. — 51,52.  Taylor's  History  of  Ireland — 53.  Dis- 
coveries on  the  Northern  Coasts  of  America. — 54.  Humboldt's  Travels. — 55,56.  Euler's 
Letters  on  Natural  Philosophy. — 57.  Mudie's  Guide  to  the  Observation  of  Nature. — 58. 
Abercrombie  on  the  Philosophy  of  the  Moral  Feelings. — 59.  Dick  on  the  Improvement 
of  Society. — 60.  James's  History  of  Charlemagne. — 61.  Russell's  History  of  Nubia 
and  Abyssinia. — 62,  63.  Russell's  Life  of  Oliver  Cromwell. — 64,  65.  Cunningham's 
Lives  of  Eminent  Painters,  <fc-,  vols.  4  &  5. 

CLASSICAL  SERIES. — Nos.  1,  2,  containing  Xenophon.  (Anabasis  and  Cyro- 
paedia.) — 3,4.  Leland's  Demosthenes. — 5.  Rose's  Sallust. — 6,7.  Caesar's  Comment- 
aries.— 8,  9,  10.   Cicero's  Orations,  Offices,  &c. 

DRAMATIC  SERIES.— 1,  2,  3,  containing  Massinger's  Plays.— 4,  5.  Ford's 
Plays. 

THE    BOY'S  AND    GIRL'S  LIBRARY.— Embracing  the  Fol- 
lowing Works  in  18mo.     With  Engravings. 

No.  1,  being  Lives  of  the  Apostles,  &c. — 2,3.  Swiss  Family  Robinson. — 4.  Sunday 
Evenings,  1st  vol. — 5.  Son  of  a  Genius. — G.  Uncle  Philip  on  Natural  History. — 7,  8. 
Indian  Traits. — 9,  10,  11.  Tales  from  American  History. — 12.  The  Young  Crusoe. — 
13.  Sunday  Kvenings,  2d  vol. — 14.  Perils  of  the  Sea — 15.  Female  Biography. — 16. 
Caroline  Westerley. — 17.  Clergyman's  Orphan. — 18.  Ornaments  Discovered. — 19. 
Sunday  Evenings,  3d  vol. — 20.  Uncle  Philip  on  Christianity. — 21.  Uncle  Philip  on 
the  Trees  of  America. 

LIBRARY  OF  SELECT  NOVELS.— Embracing  the  Following 

Popular  Works.      12mo. 

Nos.  1,  2.  Cyril  Thornton.— 3.  4.  The  Dutchman's  Fireside.— 5,  6.  The  Young 
Duke.— 7,  8.  Caleb  Williams.— 9,  10.  The  Club-Book.— 11,  12.  De  Vere.— 13,  14. 
The  Smuggler.— 15,  16.  Fugene  Aram.— 17,  18.  Evelina.— 19,  20.  The  Spy.— 21,  22. 
Westward  Ho!— 23,  24.  Tales  of  Glauber-Spa. — 25,  26.  Henry  Masterton.— 27,  28. 
Marv  of  Burgundy.— 29,  30.   Richelieu.— 31,  32.    Damley. 


THEOLOGICAL    LIBRARY.— Embracing  the   Following 

Works. — With  Plates. 

No.  1.  Life  of  Wiclif.— 2.  Consistency  of  Revelation. — 3,  4.  Life  of  Luther. — 5,  6. 
Life  of  Cranmer. 

0^7"  Any  one  of  the  above  Works  may  be  obtained  separately. 


A  TREATISE  ON  THE  MILLENNIUM,  &c.     By  George  Bush, 

A.  M.  Author  of"  Life  of  Mohammed,"  and  "  Questions  and  Notes  upon  Genesis 
and  Exodus,"  p.  277. 

"Were  it  only  as  a  writer,  Mr.  Bush  deserves  distinction.  Our  literary  journals 
and  our  current  works  of  fancy  might  be  searched  in  vain  for  finer  specimens  of  rich 
and  nervous  English  than  we  have  met  in  this  slender  duodecimo.  If  his  style  ever 
languishes  it  is  not  from  debility,  but  from  plethora.  He  often  wastes  enough  in  one 
distended  paragraph  to  furnish,  if  adroitly  spun  and  woven,  the  entire  material  of  a 
tolerable  Annual ;  and  we  sometimes  find  more  poetry  in  one  of  his  expressive  sole- 
cisms, than  falls  to  the  lot  of  many  a  poet  by  profession.  The  cardinal  excellence  of 
Mr.  Bush's  style  is,  that  it  has  a  soul.  It  is  sometimes  heavy,  but  never  dull.  What 
he  writes  is  not  a  lifeless  carcass,  every  now  and  then  convulsed  by  the  galvanic 
impulse  of  affected  animation.  There  is  a  quickening  influence  pervading  all  its 
parts,  which  makes  it  always  readable,  and  almost  always  interesting.  Indeed  we  are 
aware  of  no  contemporary  writer  more  remarkable  for  uniform  and  unremitted  vigour. 
We  cannot  conclude  without  an  expression  of  our  satisfaction,  that  on  this  occasion 
we  have  found  our  countryman  as  much  superior  to  the  "prophetic  school"  of 
England  in  sobriety  and  sense,  as  in  the  graces  of  his  style.  We  take  leave  of  him 
with  unfeigned  wishes  for  his  rich  success  in  this  delightful  occupation,  and  shall  look 
with  some  impatience  for  the  maturer  fruits  of  his  attempt  to  rend  the  veil  of  the 
Apocalypse." — Biblical  Repertory. 

"This  is  a  work  of  great  research,  the  fruit  of  long-continued  lucubration,  and  will 
repay  the  attention  even  of  those  who  entirely  dissent  from  the  author's  conclusions. 
Indeed  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  highly  valuable  book,  if  we  have  reference  only  to  the 
history  which  it  presents  of  all  the  opinions  concerning  the  Millennium  which  have 
prevailed  in  the  church.  Mr.  Bush  is  master  of  a  style  which  can  invest  with  intense 
interest  the  most  abstruse  speculations  ;  and  though  he  has  seldom  consulted  the 
popular  taste  in  the  choice  of  his  subjects,  we  should  find  it  difficult  to  name  a  writer 
who  has  more  ready  access  to  the  stores  of  rich  and  copious  English,  or  who  better 
understands  the  pomp  and  majesty  of  language.  *  *  Let  the  book  be  read  by  all 
those  who  prize  the  oracles  of  God.  It  is  of  stirring  interest,  and  pregnant  with 
instruction,  apart  from  the  main  theory  which  it  advocates;  and  it  would  be  matter 
of  just  regret  if  the  few  who  are  qualified  and  willing  to  enter  upon  these  perplexing 
walks,  should  be  frowned  upon  by  prejudice,  and  denied  that  public  countenance 
without  which  their  labours  cannot  be  prosecuted." — Presbyterian. 

"  Mr.  Bush  brings  to  his  task  the  result  of  much  reflection  and  of  extensive  reading. 
His  pages  evince  an  ardour  of  research,  a  closeness  and  continuity  of  argument,  a 
fulness  of  biblical  and  historical  lore,  a  familiarity  with  the  idiom  of  Scripture,  and  a 
certain  tact  of  apposite  and  striking  annotation,  in  a  high  degree  creditable  to  himself 
and  to  the  theological  literature  of  our  country.  The  work  is  written  throughout  in 
an  elegant  style,  occasionally  rising  into  true  eloquence." — New-York  Observer. 

"  In  the  line  of  accurate  and  thorough-going  interpretation,  it  is  a  production  of 
standard  character.  No  man  can  read  u  without  gaining  more  new  and  interesting 
and  striking  ideas  on  the  subject  of  prophecy,  than  from  any  book  of  the  same  size 
which  is  accessible  to  the  ordinary  American  reader.  And  in  addition  to  the  intrinsic 
interest  of  the  subject,  the  author  has  invested  it  with  the  graces  of  so  captivating  a 
style  that  the  reader  is  carried  forward,  particularly  in  the  few  last  chapters,  with  the 
pleasure  of  a  traveller  over  a  fine  country  in  a  fair  day.  *  *  It  is  much  to  be 
regretted  that  a  work  so  distinguished  for  talent,  taste,  erudition,  and  sound  reasoning 
should  be  buried  in  the  deluge  of  books  now  issuing  from  the  press." — Roch.  Observer. 

"The  view  taken  by  Mr.  Bush  deserves  attention,  and  the  arguments  by  which  he 
attempts  to  establish  his  positions  are  not  to  be  passed  over  lightly.  The  volume  is 
ably,  and  in  some  parts  eloquently  written,  and  we  heartily  recommend  it  to  our 
readers." — Boston  Recorder. 

"  We  commend  this  book  to  the  attention  of  the  Christian  public,  both  for  its  pecu- 
liar views,  and  for  the  instructive  historical  sketch  of  opinion  concerning  the  Millen- 
nium. We  are  not  at  all  prepared  to  deny  his  conclusions  without  investigating  his 
premises ;  on  the  contrary,  we  feel  grateful  to  the  author  for  his  labours,  and  believe 
they  will  conspire  to  promote  research,  and  lead  to  a  more  thorough  understanding  of 
this  inU-resting  subject." — Verm.  Chronicle. 


WORKS    OF    FICTION. 


The  TALES,  NOVELS,  &c.  of  MARIA  EDGEWORTH. 

New  and  Complete  Edition.     Illustrated  with  Elegant  Engravings  on  Steel, 
in  a  series  of  .Nine  Volumes,  12mo.     Either  of  which  may  Lie  had  separately. 

Vol.  I.  contains — Castle  Rackrent — Essay  on  Irish  Bulls — Essay  on  Self-Justifi- 
cation— Foresier — The  Prussian  Vase — The  Good  Aunt. 

Vol.  II.  contains — Angelina — The  Good  French  Governess — Mademoiselle  Pa- 
nache— The  Knapsack — Lame  Jervas — The  Will — The  Limerick  Gloves — Out  of 
Debt  out  of  Danger — The  Lottery — Rosanna. 

Vol.  III.  contains — Murad  the  Unlucky — The  Manufacturers — The  Contrast — 
The  Grateful  Negro — To-Morrovv — Ennui — The  Dun. 

Vol.  IV.  contains — Manoeuvring — Alunra — Vivian. 

Vol.  V.  contains— The  Absentee — Madame  de  Fleury — Emily  de  Coulanges — 
The  Modern  Griselda. 

^  ol.  VI.  contains — Belinda. 

Vol.  VII.  contains — Leonora — Letters  on  Female  Education — Patronage. 

Vol.  VIII.  contains — the  Remainder  of  Patronage — Comic  Dramas- 

Vol.  IX.  contains — Harrington — Ormond,  &c.  &c. 

HZ?  Miss  Edgeworth's  new  work,  now  in  press  in  England,  will  be  published  uni- 
form with  the  above  as  early  as  possible  after  its  arrival  in  this  country. 


THE  CLUB-BOOK.     In  2  vols.   12mo. 

Contents — Bertrand  de  la  Croix,  by  G.  P.  R.  James  :  Hadad  ben  Ahad,  The 
Fatal  Whisper,  The  Painter,  The  Unguarded  Hour,  The  Book  of  Life,  by  John 
Galt:  The  Gipsy  of  the  Abruzzo,  by  Tyrone  Power:  Eisenbach,  The  Deer- 
Stalkers  of  Glenskiach,  The  Three  Kearneys,  by  Andrew  Picken  :  The  Sleep- 
less Woman,  by  William  Jf.rdan-:  Dramatic  Scenes,  by  Lord  F.  L.  Gower  : 
Gowden  Gibbie,  by  Allan  Cunningham:  The  Bridal  of  Borthwick,  by  D.  M. 
Moir:  The  Laidlaws  and  the  Scotts,  The  Bogle  o'  the  Brae,  by  The  Ettrick 
Shepherd:  The  Cheaterie  Packman,  by  Leitch  Ritchie. 

TALES  OF  GLAUBER-SPA.     In  2  vols.  12mo. 

Contents — Le  Bossu,  by  Miss  Sedgwick  :  Childe  Roeliffe's  Pilgrimage,  and 
Selim,  by  J.  K.  Paulding,  Esq. :  The  Skeleton's  Cave,  and  Medrield.  by  W.  C. 
Bryant,  Esq.:  The  Block-House,  by  Wm.  Leggett,  Esq.:  The  Introduction, 
.Mr.  Cireen,  and  Boyuca,  by  the  late  R.  C.  Sands,  Esq. 

By  E.  L.  Bulwer,  M.P. 
PELHAM  :  or,  the  Adventures  of  a  Gentleman.     2  vols.   12mo. 
THE  DISOWNED.     In  2  vols.  12mo. 
DEVEREUX.     In  2  vols.  12mo. 
PAUL  CLIFFORD.     In  2  vols.  12mo. 
EUGENE  ARAM.     In  2  vols.  12mo. 
CONVERSATIONS  WITH   AN   AMBITIOUS    STUDENT 

IN    [LL  HEALTH:   wilh  Other  Pieces.     12mo. 

FALKLAND.     12mo. 

THE  DUTCHMAN'S  FIRESIDE.     By  James  K.  Paulding, 

Esq.      In  2  vols.    l2mo. 

WESTWARD  HO!     A  Tale.     By  James  K.  Paulding,  Esq. 

In  2  vt.U.  12mo. 


28  Works  of  Fiction  Published  by  J.  df  J.  Harper. 

By  G.  P.  R.  James,  Esq. 
RICHELIEU.     A  Tale  of  France.     In  2  vols.  12mo. 
DARNLEY.     A  Novel.     In  2  vols.  12mo. 
DE  L'ORME.     In  2  vols.   12mo. 
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